Give Me A Reason
by AThousandTimesMore
Summary: Lilly has always asked why bad things happen to her. She struggles to find out the reason why as she undergoes trials and tribulations and slowly discovers who she is. Rated T for rape situations Liley NOW COMPLETE
1. Prologue: Something Coming

_**Here's the first chapter.**_

My parents always told me that there was a reason why everything happened. They told me that the reason they got married was so they could have me as a wonderful daughter. That was when they told me that they were getting a divorce. I asked them for the reason why they were getting a divorce. My mom said that it was because they didn't love each other like they used to. I asked them for the reason why they didn't love each other the way they used to. My dad told me that it was none of my business and told me to go outside and do tricks on the new ramp he had just built me for my skateboard.

Instead of going outside to do tricks on my skateboard, I went up to my room and listened while my parents argued over who would have custody of me. That was the first moment where I really doubted what my parents said. Was there really a reason why they were getting divorced other than the fact that they didn't love each other like they used to? Why were they fighting over me?

Seven years later, I'm asking questions along the same lines. Is there really a reason why everything is happening? Why do the bad things always have to happen to me? Did I do something to deserve this or some sick, sadistic god just trying to fool around with me and amuse himself with the ways I react to the obstacles he sends into my path?

There have only been two really good things that have happened to me in my life that I can really remember. My two best friends, Miley Stewart and Oliver Oken.

I've been friends with Oliver since kindergarten. We did everything together, went skateboarding and surfing, played in basketball, soccer, and baseball leagues, hung out at the beach, watched movies, everything. We grew a little farther apart during middle school, but we still stayed pretty close.

Miley moved to Malibu from Tennessee at the beginning of seventh grade. We immediately became best friends, telling each other everything. While Oliver and I grew farther apart, Miley and I grew closer together. The three of us were always called the three musketeers because it was very rare that we were seen without each other at school.

A few months after Miley moved to Malibu, I found out that she was Hannah Montana, teen pop sensation. That was the first time we really fought because I was hurt that she wouldn't tell me her most important secret. It seemed like she didn't trust me. Then she showed me her Hannah closet… and we got into another fight about how she really couldn't trust me. After we finally made up, we were inseparable.

I became Lola Luftnagle when I accompanied Miley to her concerts. My normal skater shorts were traded for bright and tight pants, hoodies and jackets traded for bright and tight t-shirts, wristbands traded for necklaces, large earrings, and bangles, and hair traded for multiple wigs of many different colors. In other words, there is no way that anyone could ever suspect that bright and loud Lola Luftnagle is really skater Lilly Truscott.

We eventually had to tell Oliver that Miley was Hannah Montana because of a huge crush he had on Hannah, which quickly faded after he found out that it was really Miley. He became Mike Standley III (don't even ask) and we once again became the three musketeers, just with a blonde wig, crazily bright clothes, and a beard made out of armpit hair (once again, don't ask).

But I'm now approaching my sophomore year in high school, and I can feel something coming. Something that will once again change my life. I don't know what it is, but I have a feeling that it will knock me off my feet, that it won't be the good type of surprise I wish I could have. I can only hope that I'll be able to stand back up.

In the past, I've been able to withstand everything that's come at me, but I don't think I'll be able to stand much more, with my parents divorced, my mother living some sort of half life and my father completely out of my life, one of my best friends being a boy, and my other best friend already having lost her mother. This is a storm I'll have to weather out myself.

_**Well, there's the first chapter. I know that it's really short, but I'm going to be posting the next chapter as soon as I get this one up, and I promise that it's longer. So if you could please REVIEW, I would really appreciate it. Thanks!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	2. Chapter One: Remembered

_**Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!!!**_

Lilly skateboarded down the sidewalk towards Miley's house. It was the end of the first week of school and everyone was eager to be let out for the weekend, but no one so much as Lilly. She and Miley were going shopping after school and then having their annual mega sleepover they always had the first weekend of school.

"Miley, we're gonna be late!" she yelled, walking into the Stewart's house. The usually laid-back household was in a frenzy, Jackson, Miley's older brother, running around and packing things in cardboard boxes that were spread all over the living room, Miley's dad alternating between flipping pancakes and going through some paperwork that was required for the Hannah meeting later that day, and Miley pulling on her shoes as she stumbled down the stairs, dropping books out of her open book bag and trying to take a bite of toast.

Sighing, Lilly dropped her skateboard and ran to Miley's side, grabbing her book bag from her and putting all her dropped books inside. Miley finished putting her shoes on and grabbed her bag from Lilly, attempting to thank her through a mouthful of dry toast. Lilly held up her hand.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," she said. Miley glared at her.

"Hey, Mr. S, do you have a few pancakes you could spare for me?" Lilly asked, ignoring the glare and jogging over to the kitchen.

"Yeah, go ahead, take as many as you want," he said distractedly. Lilly's face brightened and she took a paper plate, taking the whole stack of pancakes and heading off towards the door. "Hey, wait, I didn't mean all of them!" he yelled as Miley and Lilly left, heading towards Seaview High School.

"He never learns," Miley laughed, walking beside Lilly, who was skateboarding as she gulped down the pancakes.

"They could use a little syrup," she said after she finished, throwing the plate away in one of the neighbor's trashcans. "Are you ready for our mall trip and sleepover tonight? I can't wait, I'm so excited."

"Oh… about that," Miley said slowly.

"You forgot, didn't you?" Lilly asked, slowing down.

"No, it's just… Jackson is leaving for college tomorrow, and I have a Hannah concert tonight, and my dad really wants us to go as a family since this is the last time we're really going to see Jackson since he's going to be gone for awhile," Miley said quickly, getting everything out at once.

"But we do this every year," Lilly whispered, stopping in the middle of the sidewalk. "It was supposed to be at your house this year."

"We can always do it next weekend, can't we?" Miley asked. "I mean, it doesn't matter _when_ we do it, it's the spirit, right?"

"Yeah, it _does_ matter when we do it," Lilly said. "I can't believe you forgot."

She turned around and started running as fast as she could, not even bothering to pick up her skateboard. Miley was calling after her, but she didn't stop because she knew that Miley would just apologize and try to reschedule for a different day. This was their special weekend, special Lilly-Miley time when they would just hang out with each other without interruptions. Miley knew that.

Two hours later, Lilly was standing at a bus stop fifteen minutes away from her house, waiting for the bus that would take her into Los Angeles. There was a special bus that came in the morning, taking people to the city, and then delivered them back to Malibu. Lilly and Miley had taken the bus together often enough, but this was the first time Lilly would take it by herself.

The bus pulled up and several people got on before Lilly. She deposited the money required in the change box and took the front seat by the window, staring out and watching as it started to rain. They pulled forward and Lilly settled down for the ride.

Forty-five minutes later, the bus stopped in Los Angeles and Lilly got off, pulling the hood of her sweatshirt up to shield her from the rain. She marked the bus stop in her mind so she would be able to get back to it later and walked down the street, ignoring the apartments and heading for the small shops a few blocks down.

She wandered in and out of shops, but nothing was the same as it was when Miley was with her. There wasn't any joy in looking at the jewelry or imagining herself in clothes that were displayed in expensive stores that she would be kicked out of if she set foot inside. Eventually, she decided she would just wander around the city until it was time to go back to the bus stop.

It started to rain really hard so she stepped into an alley to take cover from the rain, hoping it would let up soon so she could get to a coffee shop to get something to eat. Turning around towards the alley, she was surprised to see a group of guys staring at her curiously. One of them, a man in his early twenties, stepped forward with a small smile on his face.

"What's a beautiful girl like you doing in a dirty alley like this?" he asked. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

"Leave me alone," she said, stepping back, realizing now that she was alone with these guys and that the chances of someone walking past in the pouring rain and noticing what was happening was almost zero.

"We can help you," the man said, and the guys behind him stepped forward. "I can tell you aren't originally from here or you would be at the bus stop down the street where you could get some real cover from this rain. You would know that this is our territory and no one steps into our territory without paying someway."

"I'll leave, then," Lilly said. "You've been graced with my presence, that should be enough for you." She had no idea why she had said that since it would most likely only anger these people.

The man laughed. "Oh, so you've got a sense of humor and a bit of sarcasm," he said. "I'm sorry, unless you're some famous pop star your presence is more of an interruption, so… I was thinking, for payment, you could… entertain us for a little while. It wouldn't take long and you would have plenty of time to get back to your bus stop to get back to Malibu."

Lily's eyes widened when she realized that these guys had been watching her when she got off the bus. "P-please," she whimpered as they closed in on her.

"Oh, so now we get the respect we deserve," the man said. "It's a little too late for 'please' and 'thank you' now. You're going to pay us in the way we've chosen. Now tell me what your name is, or this is going to be a lot harder for you to walk away from."

"L-Lilly," she whimpered as he stretched out his hand to trace her jaw line.

He smiled. "Lilly," he said, rolling her name around in his mouth. "It fits you well. You're as beautiful as the flower. We're going to have fun with you, let me tell you that."

She had back up as far against the wall as she possibly could and the man was standing right over her, his hand trailing down from her face to her shoulder and down her arm. Suddenly something broke in her mind and she was remembering things that she had blocked a long time ago…

_Lilly lay in her bed, her blankets pulled up to her chin as the door creaked open, letting in a sliver of light. It opened all the way to reveal her father standing on the threshold, desire plain in his eyes. He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him and pulling the blankets off her. Her mom wasn't home, so she wouldn't hear Lilly's screams._

The man was touching her chest and the men behind him were cheering him on, the grins on their faces apparent even through the blinding rain. He was whispering word in her ear as he started to pull off the hoodie she was wearing.

_Her father kissed her roughly on the lips, tugging at her nightshirt desperately, his fingers fumbling with the buttons. She tried to push him away, but he was too strong and forged ahead without even acknowledging that he might be hurting her._

Cold wind and water hit her as her shirt came off, leaving her in her bra and jeans as the man's hands wandered lower down to her butt, which he squeezed. He took her hand and kissed it lightly, pushing it up his shirt and making her rub his chest.

_Suddenly her pants were off and her father was doing something down where her underwear was. She didn't understand why her father would do something like this to her. This wasn't the man she knew during the day, and he was scaring her. She started to cry as he started to kiss down her neck, completely oblivious to what he was doing to his daughter._

More than one pair of hands was all over her, and Lilly realized she was now lying on the cold, wet ground, her hair now soaking wet with rain and mud. Someone was tugging her jeans off her legs and she attempted to resist, but there were too many of them and they were stronger than her. Tears started to stream down her face as she finally realized that there would be no way she could stop this.

_Lilly screamed as a sharp pain seemed to stab her between her legs. Something was being pushed into her, and it was hurting her, and it was her father doing this to her. She didn't understand what she had done to deserve this. Her father pinched and squeezed her skin all over her body, his mouth roaming up and down her neck and face._

There was no pain as the men did with her what they willed. She put up no resistance because she knew it would be futile. There was no fighting it, they had complete dominance over her, and she was going to lie there until they were through with her and left her alone.

"_Hurry up and get in the shower," her father said gruffly. "Put your clothes on and keep them on. And you had better never tell your mother about this or I'll do it again, do you understand?" Lilly whimpered and nodded, scurrying into the bathroom and locking the door behind her. She collapsed against the door, tears streaming down her face and sobs wracking her body. Why was this happening to her?_

"That will be all the payment we require," the first man said, grinning down at her as he zipped up his jeans. "I hope you enjoyed it as much as we did."

The whole group left her shivering on the ground. She gathered up her clothes and managed to pull everything on, extracting her cell phone from the pocket of her jeans. Relief washed over her as something finally went right that day. She dialed her mom's number and realized that her mom was away for the week and could do nothing to help her. The only other person she could think of that moment was Miley.

She dialed Miley's speed dial and waited breathlessly as the phone rang once, twice, and three times, and then someone picked up. "Oh my gosh, Lilly, where are you? Everyone is really worried about you. I've been trying to call you for the past three hours, why weren't you at school? Are you still in Malibu? Tell me where you are and I'll come pick you up, okay?"

There was a pause and Lilly realized that Miley was waiting for her to talk. "I'm in Los Angeles," she whispered, unable to keep a sob from escaping her lips.

"Lilly, what's wrong?" Miley asked. "What happened? Tell me where you are and I'll come pick you up."

"Your Hannah concert…" Lilly whispered.

"Cancelled," Miley said. "Just tell me where you are, okay? I'll be there as soon as I can. Do you want me to stay on the phone?"

"Yeah," Lilly whispered. She crawled out of the alley and glanced at the street sign, giving the name to Miley who assured her that she would be there as quickly as she could. An hour and a half later, Lilly spotted a familiar-looking car slowly driving up the street. She stood up and stumbled towards the car as it came to a stop. Miley got out of the car, throwing her phone onto her seat, and rushed towards Lilly, pulling her into a gentle hug.

"It's going to be okay," she whispered, guiding her towards the car and helping her into the passenger's seat. She knelt next to the open passenger's door and looked up at Lilly, worry clearly showing in her eyes. "Where do you want to go? Do you want to go home, or to my place, or we could go to Oliver's house…"

"I don't want anyone seeing me," Lilly said through her tears.

"Okay," Miley said. "Do you want me to stop and get you anything? Are you hungry or thirsty? If you need anything, just tell me."

"New clothes," Lilly said seriously.

Miley drove up to a shop and ran in really quick, coming out with a pair of skater shorts, a t-shirt, and a hoodie. Lilly took the clothes and stared at them. "I… could you… something…"

"Just tell me," Miley said gently. "What do you want? Do you not like these?"

"Underwear," Lilly whispered and Miley nodded. "And shoes."

The brunette ran back into the shop, coming back out with underclothes and a pair of sneakers. Miley pulled into an abandoned parking lot and Lilly climbed into the back seat, changing into the new clothes and putting the old ones into the shopping bag Miley had gotten.

"Could we… throw these away?" Lilly whispered. Miley took the bag and ran them to a nearby dumpster, throwing them inside and running back to the car.

"Is there anything else you want?" Miley asked. "Do you want food? I could pick something up from a gas station; we could go through a drive thru, whatever you want. What was the last thing you ate?"

"Pancakes," Lilly whispered, and her stomach growled.

"Okay, what do you want to eat?" Miley said. "We're getting you something to eat; I don't care what you say."

"Burger King is fine," Lilly whispered.

Miley put the car into gear and pulled into Burger King, ordering several orders of burgers and fries and a large Cherry Coke for Lilly, handing the food off to her, and putting the drink into the car's cup holder. She paid and pulled out of the Burger King, getting onto the highway to get back to Malibu. "Eat," she said. "It'll be good for you."

Lilly hesitantly pulled out a french fry and bit into it. Five minutes later, she had pulled out one of the burgers and eaten the whole thing only to reach into the bag and grab another burger.

"See, I told you it would make you feel better," Miley said with a small smile. Her phone rang and she grabbed it out of the cup holder, answering it and putting it up to her ear. "Daddy… no, I'm with Lilly… I'm not doing the concert… yes, I know this is important… she needs me… I'll be there, okay? I… yes, I know… I told you I'd be there… no, Lilly needs me right now… I can still go… really bad… okay, thanks… I'll call you when we get home."

"You still have time to get to your concert," Lilly whispered.

"No I don't," Miley said, putting her phone down. "Not with you like this. I'm not going to leave you like this when you're obviously upset. We're going to go somewhere private until you feel like you can come back to my house and then you're going to stay with me until your mom gets back from Boston."

"But…"

"Lilly, you're my best friend and I'm not going to let you stay alone at your house when you're upset like this," Miley said, keeping her eyes on the road. "Remember the last time that happened? You snuck into my room by climbing up the tree in the yard and jumping onto the balcony. I thought someone was trying to break into my house."

The blonde smiled slightly and Miley grinned. "There's the Lilly I know," she said gently. "Here we are. I found this place when I first moved to Malibu, when I used to run. It's about five miles down the shore to my house. No one knows this is here, so there won't be any interruptions. Just let me grab a blanket from the trunk and we can sit out on the sand."

She grabbed the blanket from her trunk and she and Lilly walked down onto the beach and watched the waves lap up on the shore. No one drove by, so there was only the sound of the ocean. They sat in silence for ten minutes before Lilly finally spoke.

"Why did you cancel your concert?" she whispered.

"Because you're my best friend and I should have remembered that we had our special sleepover this weekend," Miley said. "And if you're hurt or upset, I would do anything for you. I would even stop being Hannah Montana for you."

Lilly looked at her, confused. "But why would you give up everything for me?" she asked. "I mean… I'm a nobody. Just ole Lilly Truscott. I'm no one compared to Hannah Montana, I mean, even in school, I'm a no one…"

"Don't say that," Miley whispered. "Listen to me, Lilly. You're everything to me. If it hadn't been for you, I probably wouldn't have been able to be Miley Stewart. I would have given up and just lived my life as Hannah Montana. I wouldn't've had anything close to a normal life, nothing close to what I have right now."

Tears started to leak out of the corners of Lilly's eyes and she leaned into Miley, who wrapped her arms around the shaking blonde. "They hurt me," Lilly whispered. "I was just standing there, and they… and my father, he… I didn't know… I thought I deserved it…"

"Cry it out," Miley whispered, rocking her back and forth. "I'm right here and I'm not leaving you. Everything is going to be okay, you're going to be okay. I'm here for you; I promise everything is going to be okay. Shhh, everything is going to be okay."

They sat there on the beach, watching the waves come in as the sun went down.

_**Okay, since the first chapter was really short, I've decided to do a double posting. Tell me what you think, please, and REVIEW!!! Thanks!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	3. Chapter Two: Drifting

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

After three hours, Lilly and Miley left the beach, driving back to Miley's house where Jackson was anxiously packing the rest of his belongings while Mr. Stewart loaded the boxes and suitcases into the back of his truck. Miley pulled into the driveway just as Jackson dropped one of his boxes, spilling its contents all over the driveway. He hurriedly packed them all up again and loaded the box into the truck.

"Where've you guys been?" he asked, wiping his hands on the back of his jeans. "Miley, you were supposed to be here. This is my last night in Malibu, you know that. Dad is going to be really mad at you."

"I already talked to Daddy," Miley said, smiling reassuringly at Lilly, who was hesitantly getting out of the car. "There was an emergency, okay? This wasn't something I could ignore. Besides, I would have been at my concert if it hadn't been for the emergency."

"What was this emergency?" Jackson asked suspiciously.

"It's a secret emergency, which means it isn't any of your business," Miley said. "Come on, Lilly, let's go inside and see if the mess is any better in there. I got a few movies out yesterday, we can watch those while they finish up, then Daddy can make us dinner."

"Am I being volunteered to make dinner after you just cancelled a Hannah Montana concert you've been working towards your whole career?" Mr. Stewart asked as they walked in the door. "I don't think so, young lady."

"Daddy, can I talk to you in the other room please?" Miley asked. He nodded and Lilly sat down on the couch, staring sullenly at the blank TV. She had ruined everything. If it hadn't been for her, Miley would be at her concert right now, which was the most important concert of her whole career.

"Sorry about that," Miley said, jumping over the back of the couch to sit next to Lilly. "Daddy can get a little mixed up sometimes."

"It was the most important concert of your career?" Lilly whispered.

"No, it wasn't, and even if it was, you're more important than a stupid concert," Miley said. "Lilly, you're my best friend, and I wouldn't risk that friendship for anything in the world, believe me. I just had to explain the situation to Daddy. He's going to be making steak, mashed potatoes, and his famous chocolate pie."

"You told him?" Lilly whispered.

"No, I told him that there was an emergency and that it was something that was a number ten on the scale of emergencies," Miley said. "Then he said he would believe me and that it had better not be about boys, which it isn't, is it?"

Lilly shook her head. "Not really," she whispered. "Wait, you have a scale of emergencies?"

"Apparently a fashion emergency isn't a ten," Miley said, and they both laughed. "So do you want to watch a movie or do you want to do something else?"

"What movies do you have?" Lilly asked.

Miley jumped up off the couch and grabbed a stack of DVDs from beside the TV, handing them to Lilly. "I was just picking random movies, so I don't know what I got," she said. "We can always watch something on TV if you don't like these."

Lilly looked through the DVDs, which consisted of _The Dark Knight_, _Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull_, _Mamma Mia_, _The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Slumdog Millionaire_, and _Finding Neverland_. She threw _Finding Neverland_ at Miley and set the rest down on the coffee table.

"This is a good movie," Miley said, sticking it in the DVD player. "Hey, do you want me to make some popcorn or something?"

"Uh, sure," Lilly said. "I'm, um, I'm gonna go outside really quick to get a breath of fresh air. I'll be right back."

"Okay," Miley said, looking at her worriedly.

Lilly stood up and left the house, walking down towards the beach and out onto the abandoned pier that was right behind the Stewart's house. She sat down at the end, crossing her legs and staring out at the ocean. The ocean was so peaceful. Sometimes she wished she could just walk into the ocean and never walk back out. She had tried to do that once when she was in seventh grade. Her mother had taken her to the beach and she had just sat on her surfboard in the ocean, refusing to come back in. Three hours later, her mother had finally left, telling her to borrow someone's cell phone when she wanted to be picked back up.

That night, she had lay on her surfboard and stared up at the stars as she floated twenty feet away from the shore. The life guard was surprised to see her still there the next day and had swam out to get her mom's phone number so she could come and pick her up. She had still refused to get out of the water. Her mom bribed the guard a hundred dollars to swim out to her and pulled her surfboard back to shore. By the time he got back out there, Lilly, and her surfboard, had been gone.

Lilly had started to swim down the beach, her surfboard being pulled behind her due to the fact that a cord around her left ankle attached it to her. She finally stopped when she came to a private part of the beach where large houses lined the shore. That was the first time she had gone to Miley's house. Seeing the abandoned pier, she had swum towards it, not knowing that Miley was sitting on the end staring out at the ocean. When she had gotten close enough to see Miley, it was too late to turn around and swim away because she had already seen her.

Miley had helped her up onto the pier and run inside her house to get her a towel, a pair of shorts, and a t-shirt to wear. After Lilly had told her story, Miley invited her inside where her father called Lilly's mom, telling her where Lilly was. Twenty minutes later, Mr. Stewart had managed to talk Lilly's mom out of punishing her and convinced her to let Lilly stay over for the rest of the weekend.

"Hey, watcha thinking about?" Miley asked, coming up behind her and sitting down beside her.

"The first time I came over to your house," Lilly said quietly. "I remember you helped me up onto the pier and asked me what I was doing swimming to your house instead of driving. I had forgotten that you had invited me over that weekend."

"I still can't believe your mom didn't punish you," Miley said, laughing.

"Me neither," Lilly said. "Of course, she didn't really… care much, you know? For her, it was all about working enough to earn the money to pay the bills and stuff cause my dad… he didn't pay child support back then. Eventually she got a hold of her lawyer and his lawyer and they worked out an agreement, but still…"

They were quiet.

"What was your dad like?" Miley asked quietly.

Lilly hesitated. "At first… he was kind of like your dad. He liked to cook a lot. He made these huge meals that a family of ten couldn't have eaten. And he liked to sing and dance around the house. Of course, he didn't really have a good voice, so not really like your dad. But then… he changed."

They were quiet again.

"What was your mom like?" Lilly asked.

Miley furrowed her brow in concentration. "She… she was beautiful," she whispered. "Everyone always said that she could have been an angel. I always laughed and told everyone that she _was_ an angel. She loved to sing, but not on stage or anything. That was always my dad's thing. My favorite part of the year was Christmas, not because of the presents, but because she was always hurrying around the kitchen, baking pies and cakes and singing Christmas songs. Her favorite Christmas song was _Silent Night_. Then… one year, she started getting these headaches. She refused to go to a doctor, saying they could just be taken care of by Advil or something. It turned out it was a brain tumor, and by the time we found out, it was too late."

"What… what's it like to have both of your parents love you?" Lilly whispered. "I mean really love you. Like they'll do anything for you, they'll stop anything, even if it means that they aren't… they aren't happy."

"Lilly, what are you talking about?" Miley asked. "Your mom loves you…"

"Not enough to stop him," Lilly whispered, tears coming to her eyes.

"Stop who?" Miley asked.

"My father," Lilly said. "She… she didn't do anything to stop him. He… he hurt me and she didn't stop him. She pretended like it never happened, and it hurt so much. Every night, he would come into my room…"

_The handle on her door rattled as her father tried to get in. She had locked the door that night because she was afraid of the pain… afraid of him. Something clicked and the door opened, revealing her father standing on the threshold once again. Lilly whimpered and pulled her blankets over her head, as if that would shield her from the pain he always inflicted on her._

"What is it?" Miley asked. "Lilly, talk to me. What's wrong?"

_He was touching her again, and he had left the door open this time. Lilly caught a glimpse of her mom's face in the doorway before she felt that stabbing pain that came every night. She cried out for her mom, but she never came. She screamed and yelled and cried, but she never came. No one came. She was alone, and no one would help her._

Tears were streaming down her face as she pulled her knees to her chest, rocking back and forth. She could feel Miley's hand on her back and see her lips moving, but she couldn't hear her.

_She shivered as she scurried around her room, gathering up her clothes and pulling them on. Running to the bathroom, she locked the door and sat down in the tub, turning the water on with her clothes still on. The warm water surrounded her body, but she still shivered._

"Lilly, can you hear me?" Miley was asking. Her face was getting blurry.

_Her father never wanted her to sleep over at anyone's house for birthday parties. He always wanted her home. Lilly started asking her mom if she could go and asking her mom to drive her. The last time, her father drove up to her friend's house and picked her up at ten o'clock at night, saying that she couldn't sleep over that night because something was happening in the family. He had locked her in her room with him and started it all over again. The touching… the pain… the screams… the tears…_

Lilly was being carried and her head was leaning on someone's shoulder as she cried. The person was whispering in her ear that everything was going to be okay and that she was safe. She felt herself being laid down on a bed and then someone sat down next to her, softly stroking her hair.

"It's okay," the person whispered. "No one is going to hurt you, I promise."

"Miley?" Lilly whispered.

"Yeah, I'm right here," Miley said.

"He hurt me, Miley, he hurt me," Lilly whimpered, cuddling into Miley's side. "Don't let him touch me."

"It's okay, no one is going to touch you if you don't want them to," Miley said.

"He raped me, Miley. My father raped me."

_**Hope you liked it. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first two chapters: k.226, AlwaysSoRandum, musicisinmysoul, Mildly Deranged, and JustAnotherSlowGoodbye. Please REVIEW!!! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	4. Chapter Three: More Bad News

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

There had been times in the past when Lilly wondered exactly why her parents had gotten a divorce. Whenever she had asked her father before the divorce actually went through, he had told her to mind her own business and go have fun with Oliver. When she had asked her mother, she had said that they hadn't been getting along in the past few years, they hadn't taken the steps to repair their marriage in time, and this is what resulted from it. Lilly had never suspected that the reason for the divorce had been her.

After she was nine years old, Lilly didn't have much contact with her father. He just stopped really talking to her; stopped coming into her room to tuck her in at night, stopped giving her hugs before she left for school, stopped playing with her altogether. When she asked him about it, he said that he didn't have time for those things anymore. He had too much work, and besides, his little girl was growing up and pretty soon, she wouldn't want those things anymore.

At ten years old, her parents had sat her down to talk about the divorce. Lilly had objected every step of the way, cried in the courtroom to the point where one of Lilly's distant relatives had to drag her out screaming and kicking, and demanded that she be able to see her father the first seven months after the divorce. Eventually, she had grown used to the house being just her and her mom's.

When she was thirteen, she had picked up the phone to hear her father on the other end of the line. She could hear kids in the background, and after a fifteen-minute interrogation, she had found out that he had remarried to a divorced mother of three, and another was on the way. After standing motionless with the phone in her hand listening to her father ask if she was still there for five minutes, she slammed the phone down and ran to her room, sobbing. Her mother had come home to find her sleeping on the floor in her room, tears still trailing down her face.

She had always asked her mother to give her a reason why her parents had gotten a divorce, and now she had finally gotten it. Her mother had always told her that if she wanted the real reason, she wouldn't be happy with what she got. And she was right. Lilly wished that she had never found out. That she had never remembered.

Lilly stirred and turned over to see Miley sitting at her desk, studiously copying math problems out of her textbook. She had her headphones in and impatiently picked up her iPod, shuffling through the songs before settling on one. Turning around, she smiled when she saw Lilly and pulled the headphones out, throwing the music player on the desk as she turned to face her fully.

"Hey, how're you feeling?" she asked quietly.

"Okay, I guess," Lilly muttered, shrugging. "I mean, how would you feel in my situation?"

Miley opened her mouth to reply and promptly shut it, glancing away from Lilly before finally speaking. "I don't know what to say," she admitted. "There… I would have never imagined that… that it was something like this that would have gone wrong."

"I didn't, either," Lilly said, sitting up and throwing Miley's blankets off her body. "I mean, I always told you that I didn't really know why my parents divorced. They always gave me bogus answers when I asked, and I haven't talked to my dad since I was thirteen. I… I guess I just blocked the memories, and they all came back when…" She stopped, looking away from Miley.

"What… what exactly happened in the city?" Miley asked. "I didn't want to push you before, but if it's brought these memories back, then… well, it can't have been something good."

When Lilly didn't say anything for a few minutes, Miley continued. "Lilly, you're my best friend, and I would never, ever do anything that I think would hurt you. I'm asking because I want to help you. If you get it out, you'll feel better, I promise."

"I was walking around the city, looking for somewhere to eat when it started to rain really bad," Lilly said. "It was like a downpour. So I ran into this alley, which gave a little bit of shelter from the rain, but… there were these guys… they saw me when I got off the bus and they… they raped me, just like my father did."

She didn't cry because there were no tears left to shed, but her voice broke and she refused to look at Miley. Suddenly, Miley was sitting next to her and tentatively putting an arm around her shoulders. Lilly leaned into the brunette, her usual energy and strength suddenly draining from her body and leaving her weak.

"This happened just as I was starting to get used to the fact that he wasn't coming back," Lilly whispered after a moment. "It's like… just when I'm starting to think that nothing bad is going to happen to me anymore, something else happens and knocks me off my feet. And I'm afraid that… that I won't be able to get back up. One of these times, I'm gonna break, and… I don't want that to happen, Miley. I'm scared."

"Hey, no, don't talk like that," Miley said, pulling out of the embrace and looking Lilly in the eyes. "You're going to be fine. Nothing's going to happen to you, I'll make sure of that, okay? If you fall down, I'll be right there beside you to pick you back up, no matter how stupid I was before, no matter if we were fighting, I promise."

Lilly was quiet for a moment. "When my parents told me they were getting a divorce, they said that there was a reason why everything happened," she whispered. "And ever since then, I've always wanted to know the reason why everything happened, and now that I think I've found out the reason for their divorce, I'm not sure if I really do want to know the reason for everything. But I can't help it. I want him to give me a reason why he did all that stuff to me."

"I really don't know what to say," Miley said quietly.

"You don't have to say anything. Just… stay here, okay?" Lilly whispered. "Don't leave me."

Miley just held her.

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: musicisinmysoul, k.226, and Mildly Deranged. Thank you all so much. I really would appreciate if more people REVIEWED. Just tell me what you think or… even criticize me! (I am not giving you my permission to tell me that I suck at writing. If you want to do that, just be nice and pm me ;), okay?) I'll put the next chapter up as soon as I can, so please REVIEW!!! Thanks again!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	5. Chapter Four: Lullaby

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

Lilly stared up at the ceiling in Miley's bedroom as she waited for her best friend to finish talking to her dad about the situation Lilly was in without really revealing anything. This was the fifth time in two days that Mr. Stewart had asked to talk to Miley privately, and she knew that it was all about her, Lilly Truscott, the worst friend in the world. She knew that Mr. Stewart wanted to know exactly what was happening and that Miley would never tell him anything, even if she got in trouble for it. It made Lilly feel bad that she might get her best friend in trouble, but it also reassured her that she had the best friend in the world.

The door opened and Miley walked in, closing the door behind her and sitting on the edge of her bed, looking out the French doors leading to her balcony. They sat in silence for the next fifteen minutes, and then Miley walked out onto the balcony, shutting the doors behind her. Lilly sat up, staring after her best friend before walking out quietly behind her.

"Hey," Lilly whispered, shutting the doors behind her. Miley didn't acknowledge her, simply staring up at the starry night sky. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Miley said quietly after a moment. Lilly was quiet, waiting for Miley to continue as she always did. "It's just… do you ever… miss your dad?" She looked away from Lilly, biting her lip nervously. "You don't have to answer if you don't want to. It was a stupid question to ask."

"No, no, it's fine," Lilly said quickly, going to stand next to Miley and leaning against the railing. She paused before she replied. "I… I suppose I do. Not the… you know, that part of him, but before he changed, you know? The part of him that really loved me and cared about me, I suppose. Why?"

Miley hesitated. "I lied to you," she whispered. "Remember when I told you that I had a Hannah concert the night we were going to go to the mall? And how I said that Jackson was going away to college and my dad wanted me to be there? I lied about that. Really… that was the anniversary of my mom's death." She finished in a whisper so quiet that Lilly had to lean in to hear the end of the sentence.

"But… why didn't you tell me?" Lilly asked, standing up straight and facing Miley, who was looking down at her feet ashamedly. "I mean, I would have understood completely if you had… oh my god, Miley, I… I feel horrible now. You… you shouldn't have gone to school that day, you should have taken it off. I shouldn't even be here right now. This is all wrong…"

"Please don't leave!" Miley exclaimed, grabbing Lilly's arm as she turned to leave and started heading back into Miley's room. Lilly froze up and stumbled away from Miley, bumping into the railing and cowering away from Miley as she stepped forward. "Oh my god, Lilly, no, I didn't… no, I'm not going to hurt you, please, Lilly, trust me!"

Lilly slid down to the ground, pulling her knees to her chest and resting her forehead on top of her knees. "I'm so pathetic," she sobbed. "My best friend touches me on the arm and I freeze up then break down!"

Miley slid down next to her. "You aren't pathetic," she whispered. "What's pathetic is that I couldn't bring myself to tell my best friend that the reason I couldn't hang out with her was because my family was spending the anniversary of my mom's death together. I was afraid that you were going to think that I was weak and that you wouldn't want to be friends with me anymore."

"Really?" Lilly whispered, looking up at Miley. She had stopped sobbing, although tears continued to stream down her face. "But… why do you think I would ever want to stop being friends with you? I mean, we've been best friends since seventh grade!"

The brunette looked away from Lilly, staring down at her lap, where she was lacing her fingers together. "It's just… you're always so strong, and you never break down and cry like I would have, and… you're just… better than me, I guess. You're smarter and funnier and… more beautiful. All the guys at school look up to you, Lilly. They think you're amazing because you can play sports, and then they also think that you're insanely gorgeous…"

"Miley, stop it," Lilly said. "First of all, none of those things are true…"

"Are you kidding?" Miley asked incredulously, looking at Lilly as if she were crazy. She turned her body to face Lilly. "You're absolutely amazing at sports, and don't even try to deny that; you're better than some of the boys, even! Most of them! And Oliver told me that they all talk in the locker room about how they all want to ask you out, but they're too scared that you'll turn them down! Lilly, you can't deny it!"

"Fine, maybe some of those things are true," Lilly admitted, giving Miley a small smile as she turned to face Miley as well. "But you can't say any bad stuff about yourself, either. I'm never strong, except for at school because… well, I have a reputation to maintain. You're strong, Miley! I mean, you… you go in front of all those kids at school and withstand all their teasing even though your frickin' Hannah Montana! And if you even try to tell me that I haven't broken down and cried, you're wrong. I have never seen you cry in front of me, not really. There is no way I'm better than you are, either. You're incredibly smart, and you're way funnier than I am, and… I know all of the guys have their eyes glued to you whenever you walk past them."

Lilly looked away, blushing as she finished. "Miley, you… you think way too highly of me, really. I'm nowhere near as… anything as you."

They were both quiet for another moment.

"Look, Lilly, I'm sorry," Miley finally said. "I'm sorry for not telling you the truth about spending the anniversary of my mom's death with my family, I'm sorry for being the cause of this whole mess with the city and everything, and I'm sorry I just… grabbed your arm and stuff. I should be more careful. If it hadn't been for me, this whole thing wouldn't have happened. If I had just been honest then you wouldn't be like this right now and…"

"Don't blame yourself," Lilly whispered, putting a hand on her arm. "This isn't just your fault, you know. If I hadn't overreacted then this wouldn't have happened, either. This is both of our faults, and it doesn't do either of us any good to dwell on it, does it?"

Miley smiled down at her feet. "You're right," she said, turning to look at Lilly. "As usual. Let's just… try to put this behind us and… and get past this, okay?"

"What does your dad want to know?" Lilly asked, looking up at the sky. She felt Miley hesitate. "It's okay, you can tell me. I won't get mad."

"He… he wanted to know why you were so upset," Miley whispered. "I tried telling him that it was something I couldn't tell him about and he said that… that I was his daughter and he could order me to tell him anything and that he wanted to know by the end of the night. And… he said that if he didn't find out the truth by the end of the night, he would ground me and then call your mom and make sure you were grounded as well."

"You didn't tell him, did you?" Lilly whispered, still staring up at the sky.

"No, I told him that it was a secret and that you would tell him if you wanted to tell him," Miley said. "Lilly, I would never tell him anything you didn't want me to tell him, no matter what it was. You're my best friend, and I know that you would never do that to me…"

"I believe you," Lilly said. "But you should tell him."

"What?" Miley asked, turning to stare at Lilly.

"Go, tell him now and…, and tell him not to tell my mom," Lilly said, refusing to look at Miley. "Not the part about… about my dad, just what happened in the city. Tell him that I'm going to tell my mom when she gets back because I don't want to do something like this over the phone."

"Lilly, are you…?" Miley started.

"Miles, just go," Lilly whispered, looking over at Miley with tears in her eyes. Miley hesitated before nodding once and standing up. She opened the balcony doors, glanced back at Lilly one more time, before passing through quietly, closing the door behind her.

Lilly could hear the soft murmur of voices just beyond Miley's bedroom door and closed her eyes, blocking out the sounds. She didn't want to hear Mr. Stewart's reaction to what had been done to her, she just wanted to be normal again. The old Lilly Truscott who rode into the Stewarts' living room on her skateboard, scoffed down pancakes faster than Jackson, and stared after boys on the beach without any repercussions. Now she was someone different. Someone who walked down the street, her head down as she tried to avoid attracting any attention to herself. Someone who skipped whole meals. Someone who burst into tears when she caught a strange boy looking at her like she was a piece of candy.

She opened her eyes to see Mr. Stewart staring through the crack of Miley's door with a stunned and sympathetic look on his face. Turning away, Lilly wiped the tears from her face with the sleeve of her shirt and tried to forget that look. But she couldn't. It would be forever ingrained in her mind. And when other people found out, she would be getting those looks all the time.

There was a creak of hinges and a click as Miley closed her bedroom door behind her, motioning for Lilly to go to her. Lilly wearily got up, dreading what her best friend was going to say.

"Hey, um, my dad… he apologizes," Miley said quietly. "And he said you can spend as much time here as you want no matter what. Oh, and… we don't have to go to school this week. He'll call the school and smooth things over. Apparently your mom called and… she's going to be staying in New York for a while longer. Business is doing really good and she can't afford to leave."

"Miley," Lilly whispered, tears streaming down her face, and then she collapsed into the brunette, sobbing. Miley put her arms around her, pulling her close and sitting down on the bed. She rubbed her back soothingly and attempted to calm her by rocking her back and forth.

"_Caterpillar in the tree, how you wonder who you'll be. Can't go far but you can always dream_," Miley sang softly, rocking her back and forth. "_Wish you may and wish you might, don't you worry, hold on tight. I promise you that there will come a day… butterfly fly away. Butterfly fly away, butterfly fly away, flap your wings now you can't stay. Take those dreams and make them all come true. Butterfly fly away, butterfly fly away, we've been waiting for this day. All along and knowing just want to do. Butterfly, butterfly, butterfly, butterfly fly away. Butterfly fly away. Butterfly fly away._"

Lilly breathed in deeply one time before her eyes fluttered closed, _butterfly fly away_ echoing in her mind as sleep took her peacefully.

_**Thank you to JustAnotherSlowGoodbye and musicisinmysoul for reviewing. I really appreciate it, guys. You have no idea how much it means to me. As for everyone else… PLEASE REVIEW!!! That's why I post this here!!! So I can get comments from you!!! Okay, maybe I post this cause I want to share it with you, too, but PLEASE review. I really do appreciate it! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can, but until then…**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	6. Chapter Five: Secrets Unveiled

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

"Hey, Lilly, wake up, it's time for breakfast," Miley whispered as Lilly's eyes fluttered open. "It's eleven o'clock and my dad said that you should eat now before he has to make lunch. He made chocolate chip pancakes and there are strawberries and whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Jackson's having a party down there and if you don't get down there soon, there isn't going to be anything left."

Lilly slowly sat up, rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, and swung her legs out of bed, stumbling forward into Miley before muttering an apology. She stumbled down the hallway towards the kitchen, falling back into a chair and taking the plate Mr. Stewart handed to her, throwing on some strawberries and pouring on the whipped cream and chocolate sauce.

"How come she can have whipped cream and chocolate sauce?" Jackson complained. "This isn't fair, you barely even let me have any syrup!"

"Jackson," Miley said, coming into the kitchen, "shut up."

"Boy, don't you have a class in a couple hours?" Mr. Stewart asked, flipping some pancakes on the griddle. "Get going or you're going to be late. I don't want to have to listen to you complaining later about everything you have to go over because you were late for class. Actually, I don't want to hear you complaining about anything. You're lucky I'm letting you stay here while you're getting everything situated in your dorm room."

Jackson grabbed a stack of three pancakes and walked out the door, grumbling to himself. Mr. Stewart took the pancakes off the griddle, putting them on a plate and handing the plate to Miley, before pouring some more batter on. Miley sat down next to Lilly and grabbed the maple syrup pouring it over her pancakes and starting to eat.

"Now that Jackson's gone, I would like to talk to the two of you," Mr. Stewart said, sitting down in a chair across from the two girls. "Lilly, I apologize for my behavior, I had no idea that something like this had happened on Friday. I thought that it was another one of your boy things."

"That's still an emergency," Miley muttered between bites of her pancakes.

"But I called the school this morning and arranged for you two to be excused for the rest of the week," Mr. Stewart said, ignoring Miley's comment. "And I also called Miley's doctor and had an appointment scheduled for you next Monday."

"What?" Miley asked, dropping her fork on her plate as Lilly stared at him with her mouth gaping open. "Daddy, this wasn't part of the agreement! You weren't supposed to tell anyone! Did you tell the school, too?"

"No, I told the school that a very close friend of the two of you just died and that you were attending the funeral," Mr. Stewart said calmly. "You're very distraught and almost unable to speak due to shock and sorrow, so when you go back to school, I expect you to act like Oliver died, except it isn't Oliver. I said it was a girl named Leanne. But Lilly, you need to go to a doctor to have things looked over. I would insist that you see someone to talk to, but that really isn't my business because you aren't my daughter. But I'm responsible for you right now and you're like a second daughter to me and I'm not going to let something like this pass when something could be seriously wrong."

Lilly just nodded, staring down listlessly at her pancakes.

GIVE ME A REASON ~ GIVE ME A REASON ~ GIVE ME A REASON

Lilly walked out of the doctor's office, head bowed, and headed over to Miley, who was waiting anxiously with her father. She looked questioningly at Lilly, but the blonde just shook her head, clenching and unclenching her left hand nervously. Miley stood up and put an arm around Lilly's shoulders, whispering in her ear as her father walked up to the doctor, who was standing in the doorway leading to the examination rooms.

"We'll talk when we get home, okay?" Miley whispered, glancing at a girl who went to their school. The girl was staring at Lilly curiously and was leaning forward to hear what Miley was saying. "Come on, we can go out to the car and wait for my dad to get back from talking with the doctor."

The ride back to Miley's house was uncomfortably quiet. Lilly stared straight ahead the whole time, her hands folded neatly in her lap until they parked in the driveway. She rushed out of the car, slamming the door behind her, and ran into the house, leaving Mr. Stewart staring understandingly after her and Miley staring after her with a confused expression on her face. Miley looked up at her dad with a curious look on her face and he just motioned to the house and Lilly.

"Hey, Lilly, what happened?" Miley asked, carefully walking into her room. She sat down on the bed next to Lilly and looked surprised when Lilly started crying. "It's going to be okay," she whispered. "Just tell me what's wrong and everything will be fine, okay?"

"I'm… I'm pregnant," Lilly sobbed into Miley's shoulder.

Miley's mouth opened slightly in surprise and she promptly shut it, gathering Lilly up in her arms and running her fingers through her hair. Lilly cried for another hour before she finally calmed down enough to pull back from Miley, wipe her tears on her sleeve, and stare sullenly down at the floor.

"What am I going to do?" she whispered, tears starting to stream down her face again. "I don't know if I can deal with all this, with what happened in the city, my father, my mother being out of town, and school. Miley, I can't do this."

The brunette hesitated before speaking. "What did the doctor tell you about your options?" she asked slowly and quietly.

"She said I could keep the baby or give it up for adoption," Lilly whispered. "Or that I could… could have a… an abortion. But I can't do that, I can't! I mean, it wasn't the baby's fault, was it? It was those stupid men's fault! If it hadn't been for them, I wouldn't be in this mess right now, it's all their fault. Miley, what am I going to do?"

"You could… give the baby up for adoption," Miley suggested quietly, putting an arm around Lilly's shoulders in an attempt to comfort her.

Lilly hesitated. "I know it sounds stupid, but… but it's _my_ baby and… and I don't want anyone else having her. I love her, Miley, I really do." She started to cry again and Miley gathered her in her arms, whispering comforting words in her ear.

"Wait, you said _her_," Miley said.

"What am I supposed to call the baby, an it?" Lilly asked.

"I suppose not," Miley said, sighing.

"If you don't want to be friends with me anymore, I understand," Lilly said quickly, pulling away from Miley. "I mean, if I were you, I wouldn't want to be friends with me cause everyone at school will think…"

"Lilly, don't even think that," Miley said, cutting her off. "Don't even think that I wouldn't want to be friends with you because of what happened. This isn't your fault at all, and even if you had done this on purpose, I still would be friends with you. I'm going to be right here next to you this whole time, no matter what you say, no matter what other people say, and no matter what happens, okay? Face it, you're stuck with me."

The blonde gave Miley a small smile. "Thanks Miles," she whispered, leaning her head on Miley's shoulder. "It's just… I can't believe that this is happening to me, you know? I always planned on graduating high school, going to college, then getting married, getting a job, and finally having kids. But it's all… backwards now. Now I'll probably have to get a job and…"

"No, you're going to focus on school," Miley said. "I'm not going to let that happen to you. You're going to be able to do everything that you want to do. Hannah's got enough money for that and she doesn't let her best friend's life fall off the end like that. Lilly, I'm going to help you in every possible way I can, okay? Don't even think that anything is going to be any different other than the fact that…"

"I'm going to get fat and sick then I'm going to have a baby to take care of," Lilly said, standing up and backing away from Miley. "You don't understand, this is… this is a life changing experience. When someone has a baby, they aren't the same, okay Miley? Even if they give the baby up for adoption or if they get an abortion… you know what, I'm really considering just getting an abortion."

"No!" Miley yelled, shooting up from her seat. "You can't get an abortion!"

"Oh, way to be selfish, Miley," Lilly said, putting her hands on her hips. "The only reason you want me to have the baby is so you can have a kid to take care of without actually having to go through anything to get it."

"That's not true!" Miley yelled, near to tears. "Lilly, it's _you_ who doesn't understand. I… I know what I'm talking about, okay?"

"How do you know?" Lilly asked. "You've never been through this… have you? You would have told me about that, wouldn't you have?"

Miley hesitated. "No, it didn't happen to me," she whispered, turning away from Lilly and facing the balcony. "But there is some stuff that I haven't told you. The only reason I haven't told you is because I didn't want it brought up in front of my dad and brother. They're both really sensitive about it. You see… I have an older sister. She's five years older than me and two years older than Jackson. A few months before my mom died, she found out that she was pregnant."

"Wait, where is your sister?" Lilly asked angrily. "How come you haven't mentioned her before?"

"She lives back in Tennessee with the rest of my family," Miley said quietly. "The reason I haven't mentioned her before is because whenever anyone says her name, my dad gets angry and starts breaking things and my brother gets quiet for a few days. I would be in a lot of trouble if my dad found out that I was telling you about her. That's the reason that I always visit my family back in Tennessee by myself except for on certain occasions when my dad makes sure she won't be there."

"What's her name?" Lilly asked softly.

"Aislinn," Miley whispered. "But she… when mom died… she was really upset and she didn't take it well. She locked herself in her room for a few days and Jackson was the only one who could get her to eat or anything. Dad… he didn't really pay much attention because he was so distraught. After a few days, she came out of her room and said that she was going out with one of her friends. When she came home… she was in tears. Jackson thought it was because mom had just died but she had… she had gotten… the baby… it was gone. Her little baby boy was gone."

Miley's voice broke at the end of the sentence and they both stood there for a few minutes before Miley spoke again. "The abortion ruined her," she said so quietly that Lilly had to step forward to hear her. "She was an emotional mess after that, and it didn't help that Daddy didn't approve of it and pretty much kicked her out of the family. Grandma took her in, but nothing was ever the same again. Jackson was broken. It had hurt him when he had found out that his big sister, his idol, was pregnant, but to find out that she had killed the baby…" She turned to Lilly, tears in her eyes. "Don't get an abortion. I don't want to see you get hurt any more than you are."

"I didn't know," Lilly whispered, tears still streaming down her face. "I'm sorry… now I feel really stupid."

"Hey, no, it isn't your fault," Miley said, gathering Lilly up in her arms. "I never told you about her. Don't worry about anything more than you have to, it isn't good for you or the baby. You know what, some of my dad's chocolate pie is left over from the other night, how about I go get some of that and some ice cream and we go down to the beach and just hang out there for a little while. We can get the surfboards out of storage and sit out on the water."

"Okay," Lilly whispered. "I would like that."

They went down to the kitchen where Mr. Stewart was starting to make dinner. He was pulling random things out of cabinets, looking at a cookbook every so often and searching through his cupboards until he finally found what he was looking for. "I'm making lasagna tonight, is that okay with you Lilly?" he asked as Miley pulled the chocolate pie out of the fridge.

"Sounds great Mr. S," Lilly said with a weak smile.

"If you need anything, just tell me and I'll see what I can do," he said, awkwardly patting her on the back. Tears leapt unbidden to Lilly's eyes and Miley hurried to her side, pushing her father out of the way.

"Daddy, why don't you finish dinner?" she asked. "It's okay, Lilly, come on, let's go on down to the beach. You can carry these plates and I'll grab the surfboards, okay?"

"Hey Miles, can I talk to you for a sec?" Mr. Stewart asked, and Miley nodded, smiling encouragingly at Lilly and motioning for her to go on. Lilly left the house but hovered outside the door, wanting to hear what he was going to say to Miley.

"You really love her, don't you Miley?" he asked after a few moments. There was the sound of containers clanking together.

"Yeah, but she doesn't like me like that," Miley said, which surprised Lilly. She had thought Mr. Stewart was talking about Miley loving her like a sister, not like a crush. "And she needs me right now, Daddy. I'm not gonna tell her that I like her like that right now, she's going through too much. Maybe not ever. I don't want to lose her as a friend. She's the best thing that's ever happened to me ever since Mom…"

Miley trailed off and Lilly stared ahead sightlessly. Miley liked her? How was that even possible? She had never told Lilly that she was gay and she had always dated boys and commented how boys were cute. They had even had huge fights over who would date who! Suddenly Miley was speaking again and Lilly snapped her mind back so she could listen to the conversation taking place inside.

"I think I'm just going to have to find someone else," Miley said. "She's probably the only person I'm ever going to love like this, but I'm sure there's someone else out there for me. I don't want her to get hurt any more than she already is. She's been through so much, Daddy, and I don't know… I don't know if I'm going to be able to help her as much as I would like to. She doesn't deserve this."

"You're doing as much as you can," Mr. Stewart said. "She would do the same for you, and you know that. And who knows, maybe she likes you, too. I think it would be best if you were honest with her about that. Now how about you go out there before she gets nervous all by herself. Dinner should be ready in about two hours."

Lilly urged herself to move as Miley's footsteps got closer to the door, but she couldn't. The door opened and Miley came face to face with her. "Lilly, what are you… were you… did you hear… wait, I thought… what are you doing?"

Shaking her head, Lilly dropped the two plates of pie, shattering them. "You… you… I thought…" she whispered, turning on her heel and running. She heard Miley calling after her and then Mr. Stewart yelling her name, but she kept running, not stopping for anything.

It wasn't possible that Miley could like her like that. She would have told her before; she would have been honest because best friends tell each other everything. Except Miley didn't tell her everything. She hadn't told her that the reason she couldn't do her sleepover was because it was the anniversary of her mother's death, or that she had an older sister who had had an abortion. It shouldn't be surprising that Miley hadn't told her this, either. But it still hurt.

_**Thank you to musicisinmysoul and Megyn129 for reviewing the last chapter. Sorry it took me so long to post this. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	7. Chapter Six: Jumping

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

Lilly stared out at the waves crashing on the beach, her knees pulled up to her chest and her chin resting on the tops of her knees. Tears continued to stream down her face as she thought about the last few days. Everything had gone wrong and almost nothing had gone right. She had gotten a call from her mother two hours before telling her that they might be moving to New York if her next deal went well. Lilly had almost told her that she was pregnant but decided that she would keep it from her as long as she could. Maybe if she popped it on her at the right time, they wouldn't move.

And then there was Miley. They had been best friends since seventh grade and now she had just found out that the brunette had a crush on her. Miley had been the person Lilly knew that she could count on to help her through everything, especially her pregnancy. If she told Oliver that she was pregnant, he would most likely freak out and try to avoid her until they graduated from high school.

She stood up and walked towards the water, kicking off her flip-flops and walking into the ocean so that the waves lapped at her feet. There was only the sound of the water crashing on the shore, the cry of the seagulls wheeling above her head, and the occasional rumble of thunder in the distance. Her thoughts crowded her mind, each pushing itself forward so that she would pay attention to it. Her father. The rape in the city. Her pregnancy. Miley's crush on her. Moving to New York. Her mother's disregard for her.

Rain started to patter around her, wetting her hair down and lightning flashed in the distance. Her mind screamed for her to run out of the water, but she chose not to, keeping her feet firmly planted where they were. She imagined yelling her name, actually caring what happened to her.

Then she was suddenly swept off her feet and someone with strong but gentle arms was holding her. Rain fell on her face, blinding her, and then a bolt of lightning struck the water only a few hundred feet from where she had just been standing. She shivered involuntarily from an image, her being burnt to a crisp, popping into her mind.

The person who was holding her gently set her on the ground and kneeled next to her, breathing hard. Lilly wiped the water out of her eyes and was surprised to see that Miley was the person who had saved her. She watched the brunette carefully as she gradually caught her breath and sat back on her heels, fell on her butt, and crossed her legs in front of her.

"What the hell do you think you were doing?" Miley demanded, her hair falling in front of her face. "Why didn't you move when you heard the thunder? You could have been killed!"

Lilly shrugged and looked away, intent on avoiding Miley's eyes.

"Come on, my car's parked a little ways up the beach. We can go back to my house and clean up," Miley said, standing up and extending a hand to help her up. Lilly hesitantly took it and hauled herself up, letting go of Miley's hand as soon as she was standing. Miley looked hurt, but didn't say anything, casting her gaze to the ground as she led Lilly to her car.

The drive back to Miley's house was endured in an uncomfortable silence. They automatically headed to Miley's room out of years of habit and Miley closed the door slowly, leaning her head against the frame. Her shoulders shook as she started to sob, surprising Lilly, who stood there motionless before walking up behind her and gently placing a hand on the brunette's shoulder. Miley turned to her, eyes red and tears streaming down her face. "Were you trying to kill yourself?" she whispered. "Did I really hurt you that much?"

"No, Miley, I…" Lilly started, but Miley cut her off.

"You don't understand, Lilly, you're the best friend I've ever had," the brunette said, sliding down the door to sit on the floor. "If you… if you died, then I don't think I could…" She stopped, sobs overtaking her and preventing her from speaking.

"Look, it's not… it's not what you're thinking, okay?" Lilly asked, sitting down next to her. "I was just… I was thinking things over and I… I was being stupid. I've had a lot going on in the past couple days, Miley. I was raped multiple times, I remembered that my father used to rape me every night, I found out that I'm pregnant, my mom told me that we might be moving to New York, and you said that you liked me."

"Wait, you might be moving to New York?" Miley asked, her sobs halting abruptly as she looked up to stare at Lilly with an incredulous expression on her face.

Lilly nodded, tears coming to her eyes. "I… I _can't_ move to New York, though," she said tremulously. "I wouldn't be able to deal with all of this without you, Miley."

"It's going to be okay," Miley said, wrapping an arm around Lilly's shoulders. "We'll figure something out, I promise. If worse comes to worse then you can come live with us, okay?"

"I think I would do that as a first option," Lilly said, smiling slightly as she leaned into Miley. "And Miley?"

"Yeah?"

Lilly took a deep breath. "I really wish you had told me that you liked me earlier," she said.

Miley looked away. "I've liked you for a long time, Lilly," she said. "I'm going to be honest with you with everything from now on. The truth is I _have_ tried to tell you tons of times. It's just… every time I was about to tell you, something else happened that messed the circumstances up for me. Like… I was going to tell you right before you started going out with Lu-kissed-every-girl-in-the-school, but then he came along."

"Lucas was a jerk," Lilly said. "Why didn't you just tell me after I dumped that shrimp on him?"

"Because I didn't want you to get hurt anymore," Miley said quietly. "I was afraid that you would be offended or something and I didn't want to hurt you anymore than I already had. I knew that it was hard on you when you found out that Lucas was cheating on you and I didn't want something to happen to our friendship."

"How long have you liked me?" Lilly asked.

The brunette hesitated. "Ever since you first walked up to me and introduced yourself to me in seventh grade," she whispered.

"Wait, you've liked me for four years and you haven't told me?" Lilly asked incredulously. "What about Jake and all your other boyfriends?"

"I kind of dated them to forget about you," Miley whispered. "Not, like, totally forget about you, but just forget that I liked you, because it hurt too much. Every time I saw you flirting with boys, or heard you babbling about hot guys, or whenever you went out on dates, I felt this ache in my chest, like there was a big hole there and it was just trying to suck me inside myself and make me disappear completely. The worst part was when you and Oliver started dating and I caught you guys making out in my living room. That hurt so bad."

"You must have been happy when we broke up," Lilly said in an upset voice.

"No, it hurt even more when you guys broke up because you were so sad and upset," Miley said, making Lilly look at her in surprise. "It hurts me even more to see you hurt. I would rather have you happy and me hurting than me happy and you hurting. All I want is for you to be happy, Lilly, and if you're going to do it with some boy who honestly loves you and treats you like you should be treated, then I can live with myself."

"Miley," Lilly whispered, wiping a tear from the brunette's cheek with the tip of her finger. "I'm so sorry, I never realized…"

"Do you want to know what I love about you the most?" Miley whispered. She stood up, not even waiting for Lilly to reply, and grabbed her guitar off its stand to the right of her balcony doors. She sat down on her bed, throwing her shoulder strap over her head and balancing her guitar on her lap.

"_The seven things I like about you: your hair, your eyes, your old Levi's, when you smile I'm hypnotized, you make me laugh, you make me cry, but I guess both sides I'll have to buy, if you were mine it'd be divine, but everything's alright. I wanna be with the one I know… but the seventh thing I like the most that you do…_ you make me love you," Miley whispered the last part. Tears streamed down her face as she set her guitar down next to her.

Lilly stood up and sat down next to Miley, pulling her into a hug. "_If we were a movie, you'd be the right girl_," the blonde sang softly. "_And I'd be the best friend, who you'd fall in love with, in the end we'd be laughing, watching the sunset fade to black, show the names, play that happy song again._"

"No, Lilly, you're just making it worse," Miley sobbed, pulling away from the blonde. "Don't… don't do that to me, okay? If you really feel uncomfortable, just leave. I can't stand you doing this to me."

"Miley…" Lilly said.

"Just go away!" Miley yelled, looking up at Lilly with bloodshot eyes. "I'm finished with this, okay? This is over and done with. Forever."

Lilly opened her mouth, but no sound came out. Tears started to stream down her face as she stood up and started to back away from Miley, a hurt look in her eyes. She had no idea what was going on with Miley, but she knew that she wasn't helping the situation and that it would just be best if she disappeared from her life forever.

GIVE ME A REASON ~ GIVE ME A REASON ~ GIVE ME A REASON

"Hey, what're you doing on there?" someone yelled as Lilly climbed onto the rail running along the edge of the bridge. Below her was a large expanse of water. She laughed as she remembered something she had seen online once. _If Hannah Montana jumped off a bridge, 95% of the teenage girls living in America would follow her._ "Come on, get off of there, you're going to fall and get hurt."

"I'm already hurt," Lilly murmured to herself.

She looked down at the water, her balance perfect from years of skateboarding. Taking a deep breath, Lilly closed her eyes and jumped off the rail, plummeting through the air towards the water. As she fell, frantic thoughts started to push forward to the front of Lilly's mind. _What will my mom think when she finds out? What about the baby? And Oliver? Oh my god, and Miley… no, Miley doesn't care. She said that it was over and done with forever._

All the air whooshed out of her lungs as she hit the water and pain erupted all over her body. There was a second splash and she felt someone grab her around the waist and move forward. She tried to struggle against them, but every move she made induced pain in every part of her body. Then she was being pulled out of the water and there were sirens, people talking, and beeping noises, something being put over her face. She was being strapped down to something and someone was talking to her, but she couldn't see anyone and she couldn't make out the words. "Miley," she whispered. Suddenly, all noise disappeared and everything went completely black.

_**Thank you to musicisinmysoul and JustAnotherSlowGoodbye for reviewing. Please REVIEW!!! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	8. Chapter Seven: Almost Gone

_**Here's the next chapter. This is from Miley's POV.**_

Miley sat on her bed, flipping through a magazine when she heard a gentle knock on her door. Setting the magazine aside, she watched as the door opened, her dad walking in with a serious expression on his face. Sighing, she closed her eyes and looked away. "Daddy, I'll apologize to her later, okay?" she said in an exasperated tone. "I don't think I should go over to her house while I'm upset like this, okay?" It had been three hours since she had yelled at Lilly and she was still feeling mixed up about her emotions.

"There's something I need to tell you, Miles," he said seriously, and she turned to look at him curiously. "Something's happened."

"What is it?" Miley asked fearfully. "It isn't Jackson, is it? I mean, yeah, he can be annoying sometimes, but if anything ever happened to him…"

"No, Miley, it isn't Jackson," he said, and Miley sighed in relief. "It's Lilly."

She tensed at hearing Lilly's name. "Daddy, I told you…"

"Miley, listen to me," he said sternly. "Two hours ago, she was pulled out of the river running under that bridge you guys used to hang out at with Oliver so much. Some people saw her climb up on the rail and jump off. One of the men dove in after her and was able to pull her to the shore while someone else called 911. They were to make out her whispering your name. The hospital was able to identify her and contact the school and get our phone number. I got off the phone with them a few minutes ago. Lilly is in critical condition."

Her father looked at her with a concerned expression on his face as she sat on her bed, her brain trying to register what he had just told her. "No, this can't be happening," she said, shooting up to a standing position. "This is one of your stupid tricks to get me to go over to Lilly's house and apologize to her, isn't it? It's not funny, Daddy, and you better take it all back right now."

"I'm not…"

But she didn't hear the rest of what he said because she was running out of her room, out of the house, and down the street towards Lilly's house. She didn't have any shoes on and was dressed in just her sweatpants and a t-shirt, but she didn't care what she looked like. As long as Lilly was okay, everything would be fine.

She skidded to a stop on Lilly's doorstep, pulling the spare key out from the middle of the large bush next to the door and fitting it in the keyhole. Slamming the door open, she threw the key back in the bush and pounded up the stairs and turned into Lilly's room to find it empty.

"Lilly!" she yelled, tears streaming down her face. "Lilly, you come out here right now! This isn't funny!" There was only an echo as an answer. "Okay, I'm sorry, just please come out, Lilly, please! I'll do anything!"

Collapsing on the floor, she started to sob, tearing at her hair until someone wrapped their arms around her, pulling her close. "Its okay, Miley, it's going to be okay." She turned around to see Oliver holding her, an expression of extreme sorrow in his eyes, and collapsed against his chest, her tears falling on his t-shirt and getting soaked up in the red cloth.

"It's all my fault," she whispered. "I told her that… that I just wanted her to go away, and she went away! If she… it's going to be… I hurt her so bad, Oliver, and I can't… I can't live without her."

"Hey, it's going to be okay," Oliver said. "Listen to me, Miley. I'm going to take you to the hospital so we can see Lilly. Her mother isn't coming back from New York so we're the only people she has. Your dad is already there and he wanted me to come here and pick you up."

He helped Miley stand and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she leaned on him. His truck was sitting in Lilly's driveway and they both got in, silent as Oliver drove to Saint Vincent Medical Center. Taking Miley's hand in his own, he led her to the main entrance of the hospital and up to the front desk. "Hi, we're here to see Lillian Truscott," he said. "She got here about three hours ago."

The woman behind the desk typed something into her computer and directed her gaze back at Oliver. "How do you spell her name?" she asked.

"Lillian is L-I-L-L-I-A-N. And Truscott is T-R-U-S-C-O-T-T," Miley said before Oliver could say anything. The woman nodded, typing out the names in the computer and clicking before looking back at Oliver.

"You're going to find her on the second floor," she said gently. "As soon as you get out of the elevator, turn right and keep walking until you get to a set of double doors. Go through the doors, take a left, and you'll come to a desk. Someone should be at the desk and when you get there, give this pass to him. She'll take you to Miss Truscott's room."

"Thank you," Oliver said, wrapping an arm around Miley and pulling her close. He took the pass the woman handed him, putting it in his front pocket. "It's going to be okay," he whispered to Miley. They walked towards the elevators and got there just as one of them opened. Oliver punched the button for the second floor and the doors closed, leaving them alone for a few moments.

"Oliver?" Miley whispered.

"Yeah?"

"Why didn't she just tell us the number of the room Lilly was staying in?" she asked. "I mean, when she broke her arm two years ago and had to stay overnight, they just told us the room number and we went right up."

He sighed. "She's not exactly in the best condition, Miley," he said. "They can't just let people walk in and out whenever they want to."

"Is she going to die?" Miley asked, tears starting to roll down her cheeks again.

"No, no, of course not," Oliver said. "Miley, this is Lilly we're talking about. This is the girl who's so stubborn that she refused to go to the hospital when she broke her arm because she wanted to finish that skating competition she was in. Do you really think she would give up on life like that? If she's going to refuse to go to the hospital for a broken arm, she's definitely going to refuse to die if she's already in the hospital. She's gonna be fine, Miley, I promise."

"Okay," Miley whispered, sniffling. The elevator doors opened and they walked out, turning right, going through the double doors, and going up to the desk where a young woman was sitting.

"Hi, we're here to see Lillian Truscott," Oliver said, handing the pass the woman at the main desk had given them. The young woman took it, studied it, typed something into her computer, and nodded as she stood up.

"Right this way," she said, walking around the desk and up to the locked door next to the desk. She slid her card in the lock and it beeped as it slid open. Oliver and Miley followed her through the door, down the hall, and up to a white door that was closed. The young woman turned to face them. "She's asleep right now," she whispered. "I don't know if you still want to see her, but if you need me, just press the intercom button right inside the door and I'll come get you. Or if you stay until visiting hours are over, I'll come and get you."

"Okay, thanks," Oliver said, and he and Miley went into the hospital room. Lilly was lying on the bed covered in a thin, white sheet, her head resting on a pillow. Her hair was spread on her pillow and her face was pale. Several tubes were connected to needles inserted in her left arm, but other than that, Lilly looked completely normal. Miley looked hesitantly at Oliver before slowly walking up to the side of Lilly's bed when he nodded at her.

Miley bit her lip nervously as she sat down in one of the chairs set up next to Lilly's bed and took the blonde's right hand nervously, rubbing her thumb over the back of it. Lilly's eyelids fluttered, but she didn't wake. "I'm so sorry," Miley whispered, gently setting Lilly's hand back down and standing up to face Oliver. "I need to talk to the doctor," she said firmly.

The young woman from the desk entered the room a few minutes later, a sympathetic look on her face that had obviously been practiced a lot. "What can I do to help you?" she asked quietly.

"I want to speak with the doctor," Miley said, crossing her arms over her chest. "It's important… and confidential," she added when she saw the young woman open her mouth with a spark of curiosity in her eyes.

"I'll go get him," the woman said, leaving the room and bringing back a middle-aged man in a white coat a few moments later.

"What can I do for you?" he asked, reaching out and shaking Miley's hand. "I'm Doctor Sanders and Theresa here said that you had something important you wanted to speak to me about." He looked at the young woman, Theresa, pointedly, and she left the room, shutting the door quietly behind her. Miley looked at Oliver the same way and after a few moments, he also left.

Miley hesitated before speaking. "Do… do you know about the baby?" she whispered, looking down at her feet.

"Yes, we were able to get that information from the doctor she last got a checkup from," he said. "And the baby is fine as far as we can tell. We'll have to wait until he or she's developed a bit more before we can say that we're out of the zone of danger, but I'm pretty sure that the baby is going to be fine. Miss Truscott is a very lucky girl in that aspect, even if she was planning on getting an abortion. I find that every girl who comes in here who has had an abortion really regrets it."

"She wasn't planning on killing the baby," Miley whispered.

"Of course not," the doctor said smoothly. "She was actually talking to me about the baby earlier and it didn't seem like she wanted to have an abortion."

"Wait, she talked to you?" Miley asked, her head shooting up.

Doctor Sanders nodded. "Yes, and she's doing fine," he said. "We want to keep her in the hospital for a few more days to make sure everything is working properly, but she should be able to go home after that. She might be a little out of it for a few more days after that, but that's only expected after what's happened. Have you, um, considered talking to her parents about putting her into mental therapy? We don't want an incident like this to happen again, especially with her pregnant."

"I don't think that will be necessary, but I'll talk to Lilly about it," Miley said. "I know exactly the circumstances that drove her to do this and I assure you that I will do my best to prevent this from happening again."

The doctor looked uncertain. "Usually we integrate our patients into a program held right here at the hospital…" he started.

"And I told you that I will talk to Lilly about it," Miley said firmly. "I'm not going to do anything behind her back that she might not approve of, especially with recent events. She needs to feel included in deciding what she's doing with her life and I don't want it to seem like I'm taking control of everything she does. Lilly is my best friend and I know her better than anyone else."

He nodded reluctantly. "I understand," he said. "Is there anything else you would like to speak to me about?"

"Did, um… did she mention me when you were talking to her?" Miley whispered.

"She mentioned someone by the name of Miley," the doctor said. "Something about how she wasn't friends with her anymore. She was quite upset. Now if that's all, I have another patient who is in critical condition and requires my attention." He left the room and Miley stared after him, tears streaming down her face. Oliver walked in and pulled her close, rocking her back and forth.

"What's wrong?" he asked once she had calmed down. "What was it that you wanted to talk to the doctor about privately? Was it something about Lilly?"

"I can't tell you," Miley whispered. "But everything is fine. It's just… she said that we weren't friends anymore. She told the doctor that she wasn't friends with me."

"I'm sure that it's all a big misunderstanding," Oliver said gently. "When people are upset, they misinterpret things and take them the wrong way. You can straighten all this out when Lilly wakes up, but for now, you should get some rest. It's no use worrying over something and tiring yourself out even more."

Miley looked at Oliver oddly. "Have you been reading your mom's magazines again?" she asked.

Oliver blushed. "Maybe," he said. "But really, some of those articles come in handy in situations like this. Normally, I would have had no idea what to say other than that it's going to be okay, but I really gave you some valuable advice there, didn't I?"

"You're such a doughnut," Miley muttered, swatting him on the head playfully and sitting down next to Lilly's bed. She took Lilly's hand in her own and after a few moments, she drifted to sleep.

_**Thank you to JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, Truscott, freakinacage1234, AshleyAlien1408, musicisinmysoul, and soccer-girl-7797 for reviewing the last chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible. Thanks again!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	9. Chapter Eight: Taking Advice

_**Here's the next chapter. It is, once again, from Lilly's POV.**_

Lilly's eyes fluttered open and she found herself once again staring at the ceiling of the hospital. She could feel the needles in her left arm, but there was also someone holding her right hand. Hoping that it was her mother, she turned her head to see Miley leaning against her bed, her hand wrapped around Lilly's hand. Realizing that Miley was asleep, Lilly carefully extricated her hand from Miley's grasp and stared at the brunette, wondering what she was doing in her hospital room.

Fear tore through her as she realized that she was in a hospital room. The events of the past few hours came back to her and she sighed in relief when she remembered the doctor saying that the baby was going to be fine. As much as her baby was going to make her life difficult, Lilly still loved her. She was going to try to be the best mother she possibly could.

She once again looked down at Miley and her gaze softened as she saw the peaceful look on Miley's face, so different and so much more welcome than the upset expression she had last seen on her face. Her hair framed her face and a single strand of hair dangled in front of her nose, moving towards and away from her face as she breathed in and out. Lilly caught the hair and gently tucked it behind Miley's ear, marveling at the Tennessee girl's beauty.

It was surprising that, now that Miley had admitted that she liked Lilly, Lilly now realized that she viewed Miley as something more than a friend. When she had touched Miley before, it had been nothing more than a friendly gesture or a way to get her attention. Now when she touched Miley, like now when she was softly tracing the line of her jaw, a slight tingle ran through her whole body, making her feel more alive than she had since… since a long time.

Miley made her feel different from anyone else she had ever been friends with, even Oliver. Oliver was fun to be around, and occasionally he could have his serious moments where he would listen and give good advice, but too much seriousness could depress him. With Miley… Miley could go for days without laughing just so she could listen to you and make you feel like you were being heard. She found ways to make you laugh when you thought there was no joy left in the world. And when she walked into a room, she lit it up just by smiling.

And she was the most beautiful girl… no the most beautiful _person_ Lilly had ever seen in her life. Her hair cascaded over her shoulders, framing her smooth face with her brilliant sea green eyes, her perfect nose, and her lips that almost always sported a teasing half-smile. She was thin, but strong, not particularly caring about what she looked like but caring enough about her health to eat moderately healthy and to workout at least six days a week. And when she laughed…

Miley stirred and Lilly quickly closed her eyes, facing away from Miley and pretending to be asleep. She could almost feel the brunette's searching gaze and almost sighed in relief when Miley didn't say anything. Forcing her hand to go limp as Miley took it and gently rubbed the top of it, she waited until Miley put her hand down to turn her hand and feign just waking up. She opened her eyes and turned to Miley, surprised to see tears in the brunette's eyes.

"Why?" she whispered. "Why were you pretending to be asleep? Do you… do you really not want to talk to me that much? Are you disgusted with me? Did I make you angry? Should I not even be here? You know what, you're right, I should just go. I shouldn't have even come. Get better soon and I'll see you in school."

"No, Miley!" Lilly yelled, sitting up quickly and moaning as a sharp pain stabbed right at the base of her skull, running all the way down her spine. Miley turned around just as Lilly fell back on the bed, tears streaming down her face as she screamed in pain.

"Lilly, tell me what's wrong," Miley said quickly, kneeling next to the bed. "Here, take my hand, just tell me what's wrong, okay? Do you want me to go get a doctor or a nurse?"

"Don't leave me," Lilly whispered, taking tight hold of Miley's hand.

"Okay, I'm right here, I'm not going to leave," Miley said soothingly. "It's going to be okay, I promise. I'm right here."

The door burst open and a doctor walked in, Oliver following him closely, a worried look on his face. The doctor glanced at the machines and turned to Lilly. "Miss Truscott, can you hear me?" he said very clearly.

"Yes," Lilly whispered, squeezing Miley's hand tightly as another line of pain ran down her spine.

"Can you tell me what hurts?" he asked.

"My back," Lilly breathed.

"That's understandable," he said. "Remember before when I told you that you have serious bruises on your back? It's going to hurt for a couple weeks, although the pain will lessen. You need to do me, and yourself, a favor by trying to limit your movement to the bare necessities, okay? I'm going to have a nurse give you some pain medication, but I want to keep you off it as much as possible because of the baby."

"If it's going to hurt the baby then I don't want it," Lilly said through clenched teeth. "I'll just ride it out."

"Lilly, what are you talking about, take the pain medication," Miley said. "Doctor, her taking pain medication won't hurt the child this early in development, will it? She needs the medicine, she's hurting."

"No major studies have been conducted as to the effects of vicodin on a developing fetus," the doctor said carefully. "Although if taken regularly, the child will go through withdrawal when it is born. We are not aware if there may be any physical or mental defects…"

"I don't want the medication," Lilly said angrily. "Don't you dare give me medication."

"Is her mother or father…?" the doctor started, but Miley shook her head. "Does she have another legal guardian who could make this decision?"

"I will," Robby Ray said, walking into the room. "If you look at the admittance papers, it says that all legal guardianship rights have been temporarily transmitted to me due to the fact that Lillian's mother is out of town and currently unable to make it back. And I say give the choice to Lilly."

"Daddy!" Miley yelled, turning to face him without letting go of Lilly's hand. "She's hurting, Daddy!"

"Miles," Lilly whispered with tears in her eyes, and Miley turned to face her. "You said you would be by my side no matter what happened, no matter what I said, no matter what other people said, and Miley, I need you right now. I need you to support me on this because I can't get through this on my own."

She watched Miley's battle with herself play out on her face before she finally looked at Lilly reluctantly. "Okay," she said.

"Thank you," Lilly whispered, squeezing Miley's hand gently.

The doctor nodded. "Okay, then," he said. "If you change your mind, you know what to do, Lilly."

"I won't be changing my mind," Lilly said with conviction. The doctor nodded and left the room, Robby Ray following him and Oliver standing behind Miley and staring at Lilly with his mouth hanging open.

"Wait, what's this about a baby?" he asked.

Lilly and Miley looked at each other before Lilly spoke. "Oliver, I think you should sit down," she whispered, gritting her teeth, squeezing her eyes shut, and tightening her hold on Miley's hand as another line of pain ran down her spine. When it disappeared, she opened her eyes, breathing heavily, to see both Oliver and Miley looking at her in concern.

"Are you sure you don't want that medication?" Oliver asked.

"Once Lilly explains, you'll understand," Miley said quietly, smiling slightly at Lilly and squeezing her hand lightly and reassuringly.

"Thanks Miley," Lilly whispered. "Oliver, you know how me and Miley have our big sleepover the weekend of the first week of school? This year, Miley told me that she wouldn't be able to go because… because of a Hannah thing and her brother going off to college. I was really stupid and I got upset, so I went into the city and I… I was… raped."

She was quiet for a moment as she carefully watched Oliver's reaction. It quickly went from confused to surprised to sympathetic. "And you're… you're pregnant," he whispered.

"You know, you can speak normally," Lilly said. "We aren't in a library and there isn't anyone in here who can hear you other than me and Miley."

Oliver ran a hand through his hair, looking up at the ceiling as he stood up. Lilly looked anxiously at Miley who just shrugged and bit her lip nervously. The blonde smiled slightly, extracting her hand from Miley's and touching the brunette's bottom lip lightly. Miley blushed and stopped biting her lip, looking down at the floor.

"Are you guys going to stop flirting in front of me?" Oliver demanded, making both of them blush. "I mean, I'm still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that Lilly is pregnant, you don't need to go on and tell me that the two of you are together, too."

"We aren't together," Miley whispered, not looking up.

He looked at them, surprised. "Well you should get together, then," he said after a moment's pause. "I've been watching the two of you dance around each other for years and I'm getting sick of you guys breaking each other's hearts by going out with tons of guys. But anyways…"

"Wait, you can't do that to us!" Lilly exclaimed. "What do you mean that you've been watching us dance around each other for years?"

"Yeah, I'm wondering the same thing," Miley said, turning to look at Oliver who was suddenly very nervous. "And I'm wondering why you asked Lilly out if you saw us 'dancing around each other' and didn't want us breaking each other's hearts by 'going out with tons of guys.' Do you not count as one of those tons of guys or something? I'm really interested as to how you're going to get out of this one."

"I, um, you know, I really liked Lilly," he said, nervously running his hand up and down the back of his neck. "And I still do, but we didn't really work out. That's why we broke up. The reason I asked her out was because I seriously thought I had a chance, and now I see that I didn't. You guys… you're good for each other. Anyone with eyes can see that. I don't want to push the two of you into a relationship, but… but you really should go out."

The hospital room was quiet for a minute, the silence broken only by the steady whirring of the machines. "You've been reading way too many of your mom's magazines," Miley finally said. "Lilly, remind me to get him a subscription to some car magazine or something for his birthday."

"Or you could just get me a car," Oliver said brightly.

"No."

"You know what, me and Miley need to talk later when there isn't someone here telling us what we should and shouldn't do," Lilly said. "Right now… I kind of want to know your reaction to me… to me…"

"Having a baby," Miley finished for her, flashing her a smile.

Oliver sighed, sitting back down. "I just don't know," he whispered. "It's kind of hard to believe. I mean, I suppose I'll have to believe you once you actually have the baby, but… it's hard to believe that my best friend since preschool is pregnant. We never planned for this to happen. We were supposed to graduate, go to college, find someone we loved, get married, _then_ have kids."

"Don't remind me," Lilly growled, and Oliver winced.

"Sorry," he whispered. "I'm gonna be here for you, Lilly, I always will be, but… it's gonna be hard seeing you go through this. I don't want you to get hurt. I don't want either of you to get hurt."

"Thanks, Ollie," Lilly said. "I was kind of scared that you would leave once you found out that I was pregnant. Now I know that it was silly of me to think that, but… I've lost a lot and I don't want to lose anymore. No offense, but I probably wouldn't have told you I was pregnant until it got around the school or until it was obvious because I would have been afraid that I would lose you as a friend."

"I don't think you could ever do anything to lose me as a friend," Oliver said, patting her leg awkwardly. Lilly winced and he quickly stopped as Miley glared at him, taking a hold of the blonde's hand and squeezing it lightly to tell her that she was there. Lilly struggled not to move as pain lanced down her spine. It finally stopped and she closed her eyes, breathing hard as she relaxed.

"Thanks Miley," she whispered.

"No problem," Miley whispered back, smiling slightly. "I'd do anything for you, you know that."

"Not to be rude, but I have to go now," Oliver said, standing up. "My parents said I could come down here and see Lilly really quick, and I'm already late for dinner, so they're going to be really mad. I'm sorry I couldn't stay longer and I'll see if I can visit tomorrow. Miley, I think you're dad is outside talking to the doctor, so you can just get a ride from him. I'll see you guys later."

He left the room, gently closing the door behind him. Miley and Lilly looked at each other for a moment, not saying anything for nearly ten minutes. Their hands stayed latched together and Lilly's blue eyes stayed locked with Miley's sea green eyes.

"Do you think Oliver is right?" Lilly whispered.

"I don't know, do you want him to be right?" Miley asked cautiously.

Lilly swallowed nervously and looked away. "I think I do," she whispered. "And I think that I've liked you for a long time. I just didn't realize it until I found out that you like me. But… but I want to take it slow. One of the reasons I broke up with Oliver was because we were going way too fast and… well, you can imagine where that would have eventually led."

"Hey," Miley said, making Lilly look at her. "I don't want to force you into anything that you don't want to do. If you want to just be friends, we can just be friends. If you want to be more… more than that, then we can be more than that."

"Let's just take it slow, okay?" Lilly whispered.

"Okay," Miley whispered, kissing the back of Lilly's hand lightly.

_**Thank you to AshleyAlien1408 and musicisinmysoul for reviewing the last chapter. PLEASE REVIEW!!! I'll get the next chapter up as soon as I can. Maybe tomorrow if I get enough reviews. Thank you all again.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	10. Chapter Nine: Original Copy

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

Lilly watched Miley as she sat down at her desk, opening her math book and pulling out a sheet of paper and a pencil. Their books were spread out all over Miley's bedroom floor because they had been studying for the past three hours, but it was all worth it so she could be with Miley.

"You starin' at me again?" Miley asked, turning around to catch Lilly shamelessly looking at her. Lilly grinned and stood up, walking up behind Miley and wrapping her arms around the brunette's shoulders. She kissed the top of her head and Miley twisted around to kiss her on the lips. It had been a month since Lilly had gotten pregnant and their relationship had developed since the day in the hospital where they had agreed to start a relationship and coming to an agreement as to how they would take it slow.

"Yeah, and you know you love it when I stare at you," Lilly said, bending down and picking up her history book. "Are you almost done with that? I wanted to go down to Rico's really quick and see if Oliver wanted to hang out at the beach with us for a while. We haven't really seen him a lot outside of school."

"He's probably with Kylie," Miley said, referring to Oliver's girlfriend of two weeks. She copied down one of the math problems and quickly worked it out, moving on to the next one. "You know he's head over heels in love with her."

"Is that even possible?" Lilly asked, lying back on Miley's bed and staring up at the ceiling. "I mean, they've only known each other for the two weeks they've been dating. He doesn't really know much about her. And whenever I see them together, they're always kissing. It's not like he's gotten to know her very well since he's started dating her."

Miley closed her math book, tossing it to the floor loudly and turning to face Lilly. "Come on, give him a break," she said, standing up and walking over to Lilly. She sat down on her bed and pulled Lilly into her arms, leaning back against the headboard as she ran her fingers through her hair. "I mean, he's got a lot on his mind right now and it's nice that he has someone he can just hang out with without worrying about something. We aren't exactly the best stress relievers when we're dating, and it doesn't help that he can't tell anyone that we're dating."

Lilly relaxed against Miley's chest, closing her eyes and smiling at the feeling of the brunette's fingers running through her hair. "I love it when you do that," she whispered as Miley started to braid her hair. "Do you want to just skip going down to Rico's and stay here for the rest of the night. My mom wants me home by eleven."

"You haven't told her yet, have you?" Miley asked as she finished braiding Lilly's hair.

"About what?" Lilly asked.

The brunette sighed, making Lilly turn to look at her. "You know what I'm talking about," Miley whispered. "You should at least tell her that you're pregnant. She's going to find out soon enough, and it would be better if she found out from you because if she finds out otherwise, she's going to assume things. And you know how I feel about you telling her about us. I don't want to tell anyone else at school about our relationship until your mom knows."

"I just don't want her to freak out," Lilly whispered, tears welling up in her eyes and threatening to spill over onto her cheeks. "She still wants to move to New York and I've convinced her to wait until I've graduated from high school and if she finds out I'm pregnant… Miley, she could take me away from you, and I don't want that to happen. You're lucky because you're dad approves of us, but my mom was brought up as a Catholic and she doesn't approve of relationships like ours. She would definitely take me away from you if she knew we were dating."

"Maybe it would help if my dad talked to her," Miley said gently, wiping away Lilly's tears and pulling her into a hug. "I understand why you're hesitant to tell her, but all this sneaking around makes me feel uncomfortable."

"Well, if it makes you feel uncomfortable, why don't you just go tell her yourself," Lilly snapped, pulling away from Miley and getting up off the bed. She walked over to the balcony, yanking open the doors and closing them behind her. The air outside had a slight chill in it and Lilly was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts. Goosebumps broke out all over her arms and legs and she involuntarily shivered. Resting her arms on top of the rail, she stared out at the ocean and the sky, struggling to determine where they differed.

The balcony doors open and closed once more and Lilly felt a blanket being draped over her shoulders. Turning, she saw Miley standing next to her wearing a large sweatshirt and staring out at the ocean. "It's beautiful," Miley whispered. "The sky and the ocean, isn't it? When I first moved here, I would always stand out here at night and stare at the ocean and the sky and the stars, wondering how they could be so big and I could be so small. Staring out there and thinking about stuff like that always gives me inspiration to write my songs."

They stood shoulder to shoulder for a few minutes until Miley noticed Lilly was still shivering. She took the blanket from Lilly's shoulders, squeezing the blonde close and wrapping it around the both of them. Lilly started to cry, leaning her head against Miley's shoulder and struggling not to let any sound escape her. Miley rubbed her back comfortingly, whispering comforting words in her ear until she calmed down.

"Hey, it's okay," Miley whispered, kissing her lightly on the top of the head.

"No it isn't," Lilly sobbed. "I'm pregnant and I don't have the guts to tell my mom that I was raped even though I could tell you to go tell your dad. And I'm dating the most beautiful, loving, perfect girl in the world and I can't even tell my own mother we're dating."

"Don't say it like that," Miley said, wiping Lilly's tears away with her thumb. "Lilly, you've been hurt so many times in your life that you don't want to get hurt even more, and I understand that. I shouldn't have pushed you like I did. I promised you that I would support you through everything, no matter what, and I wasn't doing that before and I'm sorry. If you want to keep our relationship from your mom, I'll support you, and if you want to keep the fact that you're pregnant from your mom, I'll support you in that, too. I… I love you, Lilly, and that won't change, no matter who knows it, as long as you do."

"Miley…" Lilly whispered, looking up at her with tears in her eyes. "You love me?"

"Of course I do," Miley whispered, smiling slightly as she gently traced Lilly's jaw line. "You're the smartest, most beautiful, caring, loving, and perfect girl in the world. And I'm going to love you no matter what, even if you leave me for someone else…"

"Which will never happen," Lilly said, cutting Miley off quickly. "Because I love you, too. Even more than I could ever love anyone else. And… and I want to tell my mom about both things, but I want you there with me."

"Are you sure?" Miley asked, surprised. "I mean, a minute ago…"

"I want to do this," Lilly said firmly as she nodded. "And I want to do it as soon as possible because if I wait too long, I'm gonna back out because I'm afraid of what my mom will do."

"Do you want to go over right now?" Miley asked.

Lilly nodded and Miley led her inside, locking her balcony doors and throwing a sweatshirt to Lilly as she changed into a pair of jeans and grabbed her keys from her dresser. Taking Lilly's hand, Miley pulled her out to her car, yelling to her dad that they were leaving, and started to drive to Lilly's house. She parked in the driveway and opened the door for Lilly, who hesitantly made her way to the front door with Miley close behind her.

"It's okay, go on in," Miley whispered, putting a comforting hand on her arm.

The blonde opened the door and walked into her house, looking back to make sure Miley was following her. The brunette smiled at her encouragingly and Lilly walked forward into the den where she knew her mom would be working. As she came to the closed door, she hesitated before knocking.

"Come in," her mom called.

She opened the door to see her mom dressed in sweatpants and a t-shirt, her glasses perched on the bridge of her nose and her laptop open in front of her. Mrs. Truscott turned as they entered the room, smiling when she saw the both of them standing in the doorway. "Hi, girls, is it already eleven o'clock?" she asked, glancing at the watch on her wrist. "Oh, it isn't. I was going to say, time sure did fly by. What do you girls need? You still have about three more hours before Lilly's curfew."

"Lilly wanted to tell you something," Miley said when Lilly didn't say anything.

"Oh?" Mrs. Truscott asked, raising her eyes and looking expectantly at Lilly.

"Mom, I… I'm pregnant," Lilly whispered, her eyes filling with tears as she looked down at the floor.

Mrs. Truscott stared at her for a moment before it finally hit her. Her mouth dropped open and she glanced between Miley and Lilly, obviously trying to decide whether her daughter was telling the truth or if she was just playing a prank on her. "How long?" she finally asked.

"About a month," Lilly whispered, tears streaming down her face.

"When did you get pregnant?" she asked, her tone and face expressionless.

"When you were in New York," Lilly whispered even more quietly.

Her mom ran her hand through her hair, squeezing her eyes shut before opening them again. After a few minutes, she looked at Lilly again. "Who's the father?" she asked.

Lilly's eyes widened. "I… I d-don't know," she whispered.

"Wait, you're telling me that you've been sleeping with not only one boy, but more than one?" Mrs. Truscott asked incredulously. "Did you even think about the consequences when you were having sex? Did you even think of asking me about this first and getting some time of birth control pill or something?"

"Mom, I…" Lilly started.

"And you don't even have the decency to try to figure out who the father is," her mother continued. "I can't believe this."

"Mrs. Truscott, please let Lilly finish," Miley said, drawing a look of surprise from Lilly's mom. She nodded and looked at Lilly expectantly.

"Mom, you know I would never, _ever_ sleep with anyone before I get married," Lilly said through her tears. "We've talked about this before and I promised you. I would never break my promise to you."

"Then how did you get pregnant?" Mrs. Truscott asked accusingly.

"I… I was raped," Lilly whispered, turning around to collapse against Miley, sobbing. Miley wrapped her arms around the trembling blonde, pulling her close and looking at Mrs. Truscott pleadingly. Lilly's mom was staring at the two of them with her eyes wide and her jaw hanging open. They all stayed like that for a few minutes before Mrs. Truscott spoke.

"Okay," she said slowly, standing up. "Um, we can take care of this. I'll just call a clinic and schedule an appointment…"

"No, Mom, I don't want an abortion," Lilly said quickly, turning to face her.

Her mother stared at her in surprise. "Okay, that's fine," she said. "I can call an adoption agency…"

"I want to keep the baby," Lilly said hesitantly.

"Honey, you know that's going to make it hard for you to graduate from high school and go to college, right," her mother said gently. "It would be a lot easier for you to give the baby up for adoption. And a lot cheaper, too."

"Mom, it's _my_ baby, whether you like it or not," Lilly said, tears still streaming down her face. "And I want to keep her. I don't want some random couple taking her away from me and pretending to be her parents until she's eighteen and decides to look me up. I want to watch her grow up and take her to her first day of kindergarten, help her with her homework, talk her through boy troubles, and be at her high school graduation ceremony. When she gets accepted into a college, I want to be the one who hands her the latter and takes her out for dinner as congratulations. Not some other people, but me."

Mrs. Truscott sighed. "Okay," she said, sitting down heavily in her computer chair. "I'll call my doctor's office tomorrow and schedule an appointment for you to make sure the baby is doing fine. We're going to need to get you some stuff… I never thought I would see the day where my little Lilly was pregnant. Let alone in high school."

Lilly looked back at Miley who smiled at her encouragingly. "Mom, there's one more thing I want to tell you," she said quietly, and Mrs. Truscott looked at her warily. "It isn't bad, I promise," Lilly said quickly.

"Okay," Mrs. Truscott said, smiling hesitantly.

"Um, I… I'm dating," Lilly stuttered.

"Who?" Mrs. Truscott asked. "Does he know about the baby?"

"It… it's not a he," Lilly whispered. "He's a she."

"You're joking, right?" Mrs. Truscott demanded. "This isn't funny, Lillian Truscott. You know that it's unacceptable to have a romantic relationship with another girl. Are you doing this just to try to freak me out or something? Because it's definitely working. Are you really pregnant? Were you really raped? You tell me the truth right now, Lillian."

"Mom, me and Miley are dating," Lilly sobbed. "I love her and she loves me. We've been dating for three weeks now, and I wanted to tell you because you're my mom and I wanted you to be happy for us. Mr. Stewart is fine with it and I want you to be fine with it, too."

"You get out of this house right now," Mrs. Truscott said angrily, her eyes blazing with fury. "First you come in here and tell me that you're pregnant, and now you tell me that you're in love with another girl? I don't want a pregnant lesbian for a daughter. I don't ever want to see you again. You're just like your father, you've betrayed me and I don't want to see your face again, do you understand me?"

"No, you listen to me!" Miley yelled, stepping in front of Lilly, who looked about ready to crumple to the ground. "And you listen good, 'cause I'm not going to tolerate you treating her like that. Not only is she my girlfriend, but she's also my best friend, and as her girlfriend and best friend, I'm not going to stand by and watch you do this to her. Don't you understand that it's not her that's betraying you, but the other way around? She needs you as a mother. She's going through a difficult time in her life and you're throwing her out on the front doorstep because she loves someone! How stupid does that sound?"

"I will not tolerate this behavior from my daughter," Mrs. Truscott said firmly. "She knows what I believe and yet she's gone behind my back and done what I have specifically forbidden her to do. And you haven't helped the situation, either. I don't ever want to see either of you ever again."

"Do you want to know the reason why you didn't know about any of this sooner?" Miley asked. "It was because you never pay attention to your daughter's life. You go off on business trips and tell her by leaving her a note on the kitchen table next to a couple twenties so she can take care of herself. She doesn't need someone who's going to be flitting in and out of her life, she needs someone who's going to stand by her side and tell her that she's the most amazing person in the world because she's been so strong. She needs a mother, not a source of money."

"Then why don't you do all of those things for her," Mrs. Truscott sneered.

"Oh, I plan on it, but its kind of hard to be her mother, if you know what I mean," Miley snapped back. "She's already lost her father, she doesn't need to lose her mother, as well. You can still prevent that."

"I've already lost my daughter, I don't know what you're talking about," Mrs. Truscott said. Behind Miley, Lilly started to sob even harder. Something flickered across Mrs. Truscott's face, but it disappeared just as quickly as it had materialized.

"You've lost a lot then," Miley whispered, turning to Lilly. She gathered the blonde in her arms, picking her up and carrying her out of the room and into the living room. Setting her down on the couch, she sat down next to her, wiping her tears away with the end of her sleeve and whispering comforting words in her ear. "Are you a little better now?" she whispered, getting a nod from Lilly. "Okay, can you walk out to the car while I pack some of your stuff up?" Another nod from Lilly.

Lilly shuffled out of her house to Miley's car, pulling the handle on the passenger's seat and climbing in. She closed the door behind her and curled up on the seat, letting her tears fall freely now that she was out of her mom's sight. It was hard to believe that the woman who had always told her to just be herself and not be afraid of what others thought of her was disapproving of who she really was.

She heard the trunk up and slam closed then Miley slid into the driver's seat next to her, sticking her key in the ignition. "Hey," Miley said, placing a gentle hand on her back. "I'm going to take you back to my house. Why don't you buckle up then I can make you something to eat when we get back home?"

Somehow, Lilly buckled up and lasted the whole way back to Miley's house without breaking into wracking sobs. As soon as Miley pulled into her driveway, Lilly wasn't able to control her emotions anymore and just let go. Miley unbuckled her and carried her into the house, sitting down with her on the couch in the living room. She was aware of Mr. Stewart walking into the room and sitting down next to Miley.

"What happened?" he whispered.

Miley rubbed her back in circles. "She told her mom about the baby and getting… getting raped. Everything was fine up until the point when she told her that she was dating me. Now her mom never wants to see either of us ever again. I have some of her stuff in the trunk of my car but I was thinking about calling Oliver and having him go over and pack the rest of her stuff up for her. She's going to need me a lot more now that… you know."

"We'll get everything figured out in the morning. How about I go make the two of you something to eat while you sit out here and watch TV. Maybe we can clear the rest of Jackson's stuff out of his room for Lilly since he moved out two weeks ago," he said, standing up.

"I'll talk with Lilly about it," Miley said. "She can stay here, right? She doesn't have anywhere else to go…"

"Of course she can stay here, bud," Mr. Stewart said. "You don't even have to ask. She's almost like a second daughter to me and I don't want her living out on the street, especially in her condition."

He walked away and Lilly sat up, still leaning on Miley. "I wish I had your dad," she whispered. "He's a whole lot more accepting than my mom and a whole lot nicer than my father."

"Hey, I'm sure your mom will come around," Miley whispered. "She just needs to sort through some stuff. After all, you did tell her a lot today. I think it would have taken me a while to sort through all the stuff you told her if I had been her. She's your mom, she has to come around, and that's her granddaughter you're carrying. Just give her some time and let her come to you. You don't want to push her too much."

"You always know what to say to make me feel better," Lilly murmured. "Is your dad getting us something to eat? Cause I'm starving."

"Are you always?" Miley chuckled, kissing her on the top of the head. "Do you want to go on over to the kitchen or do you want to sit out here and watch TV while he makes us something and serves us?"

"Let's stay here and watch TV," Lilly said, snuggling up to Miley. "Is there a blanket, I'm really cold."

Miley pulled a blanket off the back of the couch and wrapped it around Lilly, turning on the TV and handing the remote to the blonde. Lilly flipped through the channels and settled on a soap opera she liked making fun of. She and Miley laughed as the main character slapped her boyfriend across the face, screaming at him. "The acting is just so bad," Miley said as she tried to get her breath back during a commercial break. "It's so obvious that they're totally in love with each other because every time she yells at him, she has this guilty look on her face and he looks like he's about to burst out laughing."

"And whenever they've made up with each other on the show, they're mad at each other in real life," Lilly laughed. "She has that angry look on her face and he talks too quickly."

Mr. Stewart walked into the living with two large plates heaping with food. Miley hurried to get some tray tables and set them up so he could set the plates down. He stepped back and looked at his handiwork, grinning down at it contentedly. There were two hamburgers on each plate along with a pile of roasted vegetables and fruit salad. "There's dessert, too," he said. "Just tell me if you want more or when you're ready to eat the blueberry pie I made."

Lilly immediately nodded and dug into the food in front of her while Miley watched her for a moment to make sure she was okay before starting to eat her own food. "Hey, Lilly, you probably heard, but my dad wants to know if he should clear out Jackson's bedroom for you," Miley said after swallowing a bite out of her first burger.

"Um, I think… I'd rather stay in your room," Lilly said, blushing and hiding it by becoming very interested in her roasted vegetables. "That is, if you don't mind."

"Of course I don't mind," Miley said gently.

Setting down her fork, Lilly stared blankly at her empty plate. "Do you think my dad would care if I called him and told him that I'm pregnant?" she whispered.

"I'm sure he would," Miley said cautiously. "But do you want him to know after what happened between the two of you? I don't think it would be the best idea to call him right now."

"He has kids," Lilly whispered. "Other than me. He has a new family."

"Lilly…" Miley whispered.

"It's okay," Lilly whispered. "I just wish that he would have at least sent me a wedding invitation in the mail, you know? It would have been nice for him to remember his first daughter, the one whose life he ruined. He could have at least considered telling me that he was getting married, and then he could have told me he was having another kid. He's my half-brother and all his other kids are my stepsiblings. I've never even talked to them over the phone."

"Look, I don't want to make you feel any worse, but I think you should just forget about him," Miley said, making Lilly look up at her in surprise. "You're only going to get hurt even worse if you dwell on what did and didn't happen between the two of you and it isn't healthy for you or the baby."

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Lilly whispered, yanking away from Miley as the brunette reached out to place a hand on her arm.

"Lilly, I…" Miley started.

"No!" Lilly yelled, tears trailing down her cheeks again. "You just don't get it! I love him, Miley, even after what he did to me. I can't stop loving him even though he did all that… that… disgusting stuff to me. It's my fault, Miley, don't you see that? That's why he did it to me, because I deserved it."

"Calm down," Miley said, standing up and slowly walking towards her. "Lilly, I wasn't trying to upset you, okay? I love you and I'm going to support you no matter what you do, I'm just trying to give you some advice. Just talk to me, okay? Tell me what you're thinking, don't keep it away from me. Don't shut me out, Lilly."

Lilly leaned against Miley, tears soaking into her shirt. "I just can't stop remembering," she whispered. "Every time I close my eyes, he's right there, that look of lust and longing in his eyes and I can feel the pain. I've tried everything, Miles, but he just won't go away."

"You haven't tried telling me," Miley whispered, lifting Lilly's chin gently and kissing her on the nose. "Whenever you see you, you tell me, no matter where I am, no matter what I'm doing, and no matter who I'm with. If I'm not with you, you keep calling me or texting me until I answer. You don't have to go through this only, Lilly. I'm here for you, and so is Oliver, if you need him. If you asked him, he would be by your side in an instant, and you know it."

"I don't want to be a burden," Lilly whispered.

"No, don't even think that," Miley said. "You're my best friend. Not only that, but you're my girlfriend, and I love you more than anyone else in the world. And when you hurt, I hurt. I don't want to see you hurt, or upset, or sad, or anything other than happy. If you need me, I'll be there for you. I've already promised you that, and I don't break my promises."

"Thank you," Lilly whispered, and Miley wrapped her arms around her, burying her face in her hair and closing her eyes. They stayed like that for a few minutes before Miley swept Lilly up in her arms, making her squeal in surprise. "Miley Rae Stewart, you put me down right now!" Lilly laughed as Miley ran up the stairs and towards her bedroom, throwing Lilly on the bed and diving after her.

Miley kissed Lilly and the blonde responded fiercely, grabbing fistfuls of the brunette's hair and pulling her closer. Her hands ran up and down Miley's back as Miley moaned in surprise and pleasure. Lilly's hands slipped dangerously lower and Miley pulled away to see a disappointed look on Lilly's face. "No, we're going slow, remember?" Miley whispered. "I don't want anything to happen that we're going to regret later."

"I'm sorry," Lilly said, looking away with an ashamed blush spreading over her face. Miley took her chin in her hand, turning her head so their eyes met.

"Don't apologize," Miley whispered. "It's just as much my fault as it is yours. I let it get carried away like that. Heck, I initiated that by kissing you! _I_ should be the one apologizing, not you. Don't apologize for things that you don't need to take responsibility for."

"You're too good to me," Lilly murmured, gently kissing Miley, cutting it off before it got too carried away. "I mean, you help me after we have a big fight, you listen to me when I'm too moody to talk, you date me even though I'm pregnant, let me live with you when my mom kicks me out…"

"The reason she kicked you out was because you were dating me," Miley pointed out helpfully, earning a playful shove from Lilly. "But you deserve it, Lilly, after all you've done for me. I've been horrible to you in the past and it's only right that I make up for it. Plus, I love you, so it's only natural that I stick with you through thick and thin. What's the marriage vow? For richer, for poorer, through sickness, through health til death do we part? Something like that, right?"

"Something like that," Lilly said quietly. "You know, you should write a song based on the wedding vows."

"For you?" Miley asked with a playful grin and suddenly becoming serious. "Do you know how many of my songs I've written for you? Here, remember _One in a Million_? This is the real version." She grabbed her guitar and strummed it quickly, tuning it before she launched into the beginning of the song.

"_How did I get here? I turned around and there you were. I didn't think twice or rationalize cause somehow I thought that there was more than just chemistry. I mean wish you were kind of into me but I figure it's too good to be true. I'd say pinch me where's the catch this time. Can't find a single cloud in the sky. Help me before I get used to this girl,_" Miley sang, bringing tears to Lilly's eyes. She glanced up and smiled at her, continuing her song.

"_They say that good things take time. But really great things happen in the blink of an eye. Thought the chances of meeting somebody like you were a million to one. I cannot believe it. Whoa, you're one in a million. All this time I've been looking for love, trying to make things work that aren't good enough. Now I think I'm through, I say I'm done, wish I'd stumble into the arms of the one._

"_You're making me laugh about the silliest stuff, wish I was your diamond in the rough, imagining that you come with your velvet touch. I will never be so lucky and will never feel so happy cause I won't see that sparkle in your eyes. They say that good things take time, but really great things happen in the blink of an eye. Thought the chances of meeting somebody like you were a million to one. I cannot believe it. Whoa, you're one in a million._

"_All this time I've been looking for love, trying to make things work that aren't good enough. Now I think I'm through, I say I'm done, wish I'd stumble into the arms of the one. I'd say pinch me where's the catch this time. Can't find a single cloud in the sky. Help me before I get used to this girl. They say that good things take time, but really great things happen in the blink of an eye. Thought the chances of meeting somebody like you were a million to one. I cannot believe it. Whoa, you're one in a million._

"_They say that good tings take time, but really great things happen in the blink of an eye. Thought the chances of meeting somebody like you were a million to one. I cannot believe it, you're one in a million, yeah, one in a million, yeah. You're one in a million._

She stopped singing, setting her guitar down and sitting down next to Lilly. "You don't understand how much I love you, Lilly. I can't even express how much I love you. I could write you a million songs and it still wouldn't be enough. If I had everything in the world that you've ever wanted, then it wouldn't be enough. You're so much different than any of the boyfriends I've had in the past, Lilly. You're so much _more_. And I could never stand to lose you."

"Did you seriously write that for me?" Lilly asked incredulously.

Miley stood up and walked over to her desk, rifling through one of the drawers and pulling out a folder full of sheet music. She sat back down next to Lilly and went through the music, pulling out the music for _One in a Million_. It was dated three months before it came out with Hannah Montana and had the exact same lyrics Miley had just sung. Lilly stared at the music and looked up at Miley with her eyes wide. "Lilly, I really love you," she whispered. "I always have."

"But I thought your dad…" Lilly whispered.

"I gave him the music and he played around with the tune and the lyrics," Miley said, placing the music back in her folder and putting the folder back in the drawer. "He said that the label wouldn't be too happy if I started singing love songs for a girl and that the actual music needed to be a little more upbeat or I would drive my fans to tears."

"Made me cry," Lilly whispered, wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "I just… can't believe you wrote that song for me."

"I've written so many more for you," Miley said, pulling Lilly into a hug and kissing her on the top of the head. "But I think some of those will have to wait until later. I don't know if you can deal with any more of the songs I've written."

"How many of them are Hannah songs?" Lilly asked.

"A lot," Miley said, yawning. "You know what, I think I'm going to turn in early today. I'm really tired and I want to be up early with you tomorrow so I can go watch you surf."

Lilly climbed under the covers and Miley climbed in behind her, pulling the blankets up and wrapping her arms around Lilly's waist. The blonde sighed contentedly and pressed her back into Miley's front, her eyes fluttering closed as she fell asleep.

_**Wow, guys, thanks for the reviews. If you guys keep reviewing like that, I just MIGHT update a bit faster. And AshleyAlien1408, I was kind of surprised that I chose Oliver to talk some sense into them, too, but it was either him or Miley's dad, and I think I like Oliver a bit better. Thank you to AshleyAlien1408, JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, IkarusCazadores, lil-ying-fa, and soccer-girl-7797. PLEASE REVIEW!!! Thank you all again!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	11. Chapter Ten: Memories

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

Swinging her legs out of bed, Lilly winced at the stiffness in her back. The pain had disappeared, but occasionally she could still feel the bruises that could barely be seen if one looked closely. She looked at Miley and all thoughts about the stiffness in her back disappeared.

The brunette was smiling softly, her hair spread out behind her on the pillow. She was lying on her side and facing Lilly, her arms spread out on the place Lilly had just vacated because they had been wrapped around her all night. Lilly didn't want to wake Miley up, but she knew that if she didn't and she went surfing, she would get a lecture from the brunette later.

"Hey, Miles, wake up," she whispered, shaking her lightly. The brunette moaned and threw her arms over her face, turning away from Lilly. Lilly knelt on the bed, leaning over Miley and pulling her arms away from her face. She kissed her lightly on the forehead, then on each of her eyes, and on her nose. Lingering over her lips, she smiled when Miley opened her eyes, a hungry look on her face. She quickly jumped off Miley, putting her hands on her hips as the brunette pouted at her.

"Come on, that isn't fair," Miley said, sitting up quickly.

"You're the one who said that you wanted to wake up with me so you could watch me surf this morning," Lilly said, a grin spreading over her face. "You could always stay here and I could just go surfing by myself. I wouldn't mind that in the least." Miley raised her eyebrows at her. "Okay, maybe I would mind a little bit."

"Well I'm coming with you, whether you like it or not," Miley said, throwing the covers off and standing up. "I'm just going to throw on some clothes while you get changed into… what _do_ you wear when you go surfing? A wetsuit or a swimsuit?"

"Don't you wish I'd wear one of my bathing suits," Lilly said, smiling. "I wear a wetsuit. There's too much of a chance that a bikini wouldn't hold up against the waves and I don't want to be surfing half-naked with all those boys there. They might appreciate the show, but I definitely would not enjoy giving it."

"I would appreciate the show, too," Miley murmured.

"What was that?" Lilly asked, pretending that she hadn't heard what Miley said.

"Nothing," Miley said quickly. "I was just saying that I should probably change into my bathing suit. But I might get cold since I won't be in the water. You know what, I'm just going to bring a notebook and a pen and see if I can find any inspiration on the beach. I heard that there was going to be this really hot girl there today and I'm hoping that if I catch a glimpse of her, I might get an idea for a new song."

"Oh really, a hot girl?" Lilly asked, pulling her wetsuit out of Miley's closet. "How the heck did this get in here?" she muttered to herself.

"Yeah, she's supposed to have the most amazing blue eyes and this gorgeous blonde hair, and the hottest body in the state of California," Miley said mischievously.

"_Just_ California?" Lilly asked, slipping off her pants and underwear and struggling into her wetsuit. She pulled off her t-shirt, throwing it on top of the pile of her discarded clothes and pulling on the rest of her wetsuit. Miley walked up behind her, zipping up the back of the wetsuit and turned Lilly around to kiss her.

"That's what some boy said," Miley whispered, leaning her forehead against Lilly's. "But _I_ say that she has the hottest body in th'world. Of course, I might be a little biased cause she's my girlfriend, ya know?" She accentuated her Tennessee accent, pulling Lilly in for another kiss. "Course, ya might disagree with me."

"Yeah, I think I might," Lilly murmured against Miley's lips. She abruptly pulled away and pushed Miley towards the closet. "Now get dressed or it's going to be really busy at the beach and I'll have to wait in line to get a wave."

"Okay, okay, I'm going," Miley said irritably. "Gosh, I have one bossy girlfriend." She quickly got dressed, throwing a hoodie over her t-shirt and grabbing a notepad along with a pen. "I'm ready, come on, girlfriend, you're going to miss all those waves like you were complaining earlier."

"Wrong way," Lilly laughed as Miley headed towards the balcony doors, grabbing her by the arm and pulling her out into the hall, down the stairs, and into the kitchen. Mr. Stewart was already up and cooking breakfast, the smell of French toast starting to drift through the house.

"You girls on your way to the beach?" he asked, noticing Lilly's wetsuit. "Should I make some more for you for when you get back?"

"That would be great, Mr. S," Lilly said, pulling Miley past the French toast and towards the door.

"Y'know, Lilly, I think you should grab your surfboard out of the garage and meet me back here," Miley said, coming to a stop and eyeing the French toast hungrily. Lilly nodded and ran out the door, leaving Miley only minutes to grab a stack of French toast and hide it under her notebook. When Lilly came back, her mouth was stuffed full and she was trying to hide four pieces of French toast behind her back.

"I was going to say that you should take something with you to eat at the beach, but I think you already have that covered," Lilly said. "Um, do you want to finish eating that or just head down to the beach right now? Cause I can wait if you need me to wait."

"No, I'm good," Miley said, spewing French toast all over Lilly.

"Don't talk with your mouth full, how many times do I have to tell you that?" Mr. Stewart said, getting some paper towels and handing them to Lilly. "I swear, you're starting to fill in your brother's place. Stuffing food in your face as fast as you can, sneaking it behind people's backs, talking with your mouth full, and trying to hide everything you've done behind your back."

Miley swallowed quickly. "Hey, that is _not_ true," she said heatedly. "First of all, I just took a really big bite, second I was only hiding the food because I didn't want to make Lilly hungry. And you know what happens when she's hungry. She eats and eats and eats for hours, then she would be missing all those waves like she was complaining about earlier. And you know what, I'm just going to shut my mouth right now because it looks like I just stuck my foot in it."

"More like your whole leg," Mr. Stewart muttered as Lilly glared at Miley.

"I'm sorry?" Miley offered weakly.

"We'll talk on the way to the beach," Lilly said sternly, pointing Miley towards the door. She gave a cheerful wave and a wink to Mr. Stewart before she followed the brunette out, shutting the door behind her. They walked in silence for a while, Miley taking an occasional bite out of her last piece of French toast.

"Look, Lilly, I'm really sorry," Miley said. "I didn't know that it would upset you this much. Otherwise, I would have never done it."

"I'm not really upset," Lilly said lightly.

"Wait, what?" Miley asked, turning to face her incredulously. "You were making me sweat all that time for no reason? That's so not fair!"

"Yes it is," Lilly said, laughing. "And it was funny watching you think about what you were going to say in order to get me to forgive you. I wasn't going to break it to you that I'm not upset this early; I was planning on watching you struggle, you know? But I love you, so I'm not going to do that to you."

"Thank you, honey," Miley said, pulling Lilly in for a one-armed hug. "I love you, too. And just for that, I'm going to ask you now instead of waiting to ask you."

"Ask me what?" Lilly asked as they arrived at the beach.

"Well, I go back to Tennessee three times a year, once during the beginning of the school year, once during the middle, and once during the summer, and one of my visits is coming up in a couple weeks, and… and I was wondering if you wanted to go with me. I really want you to meet Aislinn and my grandma, and I think they would both want to meet you, too. And I really don't want to be away from you for two weeks."

Lilly smiled excitedly. "You really want me to go with you?" she asked. "Okay, I just have to ask my…" she trailed off, the smile fading from her face. "Normally I would have to ask my mom, but now I don't have to. I guess as long as your dad says it's okay, I can go, then."

"I'm sorry," Miley whispered, pulling Lilly into a hug and kissing her on the top of the head. "If I had known that this was going to bring that up, I would have waited a little while to ask."

"No, I'm glad you asked now," Lilly said decisively. "I don't want my mom to ruin everything else for me. If you want to ask me something that has to do with my mom, then you go ahead. She isn't going to bother me anymore and I'm not going to let her. I want to go, Miley."

"Whoa, the waves are huge!" a guy yelled as he ran past them, his surfboard dragging on the ground beside them.

"Go on and catch some waves," Miley said, kissing Lilly lightly. "I'll be waiting on the beach for you. Who knows, maybe that hot girl showed up."

Lilly laughed, pecking Miley on the cheek and running towards the water, her surfboard held firmly under her arm. Miley watched her for a few moments before she decided to find a place to sit down on the beach. The blonde ran into the waves, throwing her surfboard down on the water and making sure that it was securely fastened to her ankle. She paddled out into the ocean, away from where most of the early morning surfers were gathered. Glancing back at the beach, she saw Miley sitting down a few feet away from the water, intent on the notebook and pencil in her hand.

Suddenly a wave washed over her, knocking her off her surfboard and into the water. She felt the tug of the string attaching her to the surfboard and made her way to towards it, drawing in a gulp of air as she broke the surface.

"Hey, you get a bigger wave than you're used to?" a guy asked as she climbed back on her board. She shot him a nasty look and paddled away from him, aware of the next large wave coming in. To his surprise, she caught the wave, which was much larger than the one that had just knocked her off her board, and rode it out, glancing over to the shore to see Miley staring proudly at her.

"Whoa, that is hot," the guy said as Lilly smirked at him. The smirk was immediately wiped off her face as he paddled towards her. "Um, my name's Mark. Are you… are you doing anything later today? My friend is having a party over at his house and I was wondering if maybe you wanted to go with me."

"After the way you treated me, definitely not," Lilly sneered, watching for the next large wave. There was nothing as far as she could see, but she would keep an eye out. The waves could really sneak up on you.

"Look, I'm sorry, it's just… there are a lot of tourists who come out here and think they can surf, and I thought you were one of them," Mark said, running a hand through his hair. "And I really regret that, now, because you obviously know what you're doing and you made me look like an idiot. I would really like to take the time to get to know you…"

"You would like to get to know me or my body?" Lilly asked. "I really don't hook up with guys like you, you know that? Its just… guys are always looking for one thing, and that's something that I'm not interested. I'm not going to your stupid party, and if you'll excuse me, I would like to get some surfing in because I have someone waiting for me. Someone who actually cares about _me_ and not sex. Thanks, but no thanks."

"Oh, so you already have a boyfriend," Mark said, raising an eyebrow and grinning at Lilly. "I see how it is. What will it take to get you to come to this party tonight? Come on, I'm a lot better than any guy you could manage to come up with."

"Leave me alone," Lilly said on the verge of tears. "Just… get away from me."

"I…" he started.

"She said to go away," someone said, paddling up behind Lilly. She turned around to see Oliver sitting on his surfboard, his skin gleaming with water and sweat. When Lilly looked at him, she realized he had really been working out and had managed to put some muscle on. "Or do I have to make your go away?"

Mark shook his head, muttering something about ripped boyfriends and turning his surfboard around. Lilly and Oliver watched him go, making sure he was far enough away before they started talking. "Are you okay?" Oliver asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine now that he's gone," Lilly said, taking a deep breath. "Thanks for that. I don't know what I would have done if you hadn't come along."

"Hey, you would have managed," Oliver said with a grin. "I mean, you _are_ Lilly Truscott, and no one messes with Lilly Truscott without getting some serious damage. How about you take a few more waves while I go in and tell Miley not to worry. She looks a little anxious from here. What do you think?"

Lilly turned to look for Miley and found her at the edge of the water, notebook and paper clutched tightly in her right hand and her left hand brought up to her face to shield her eyes from the rising sun. Both Lilly and Oliver gave her the thumbs-up sign, but she continued to stare straight at them. "Oliver, I'll go…" Lilly started.

"No, I was about to get out when I heard you and that Mark guy," Oliver said, holding up a hand. "I'm supposed to meet Kylie in forty-five minutes and I don't want to be late. I'll have some time to talk to Miley for a bit and go home to change before I have to head over to her house to pick her up. Really, Lilly, relax and have some fun. I'll take care of Miley, okay?"

"Thanks Oliver," Lilly said. "Have I told you that you're the best friend ever?"

"What about Miley?" Oliver asked, confused.

"She's my girlfriend," Lilly laughed. "It's just a little bit different. Now go on before you're late for your date. Miley's going to drill you if I know her even half as well as I think I do. Go ahead, I'll be fine. And thanks again."

"No problem," Oliver said, standing up as a wave headed towards them. He rode the wave into the shore, running along the beach as his surfboard came to a sudden stop. Lilly watched as he picked it up, walking over to Miley who was jogging towards him. Oliver started to talk, gesturing wildly with his hands as Miley questioned him, an intense look on her face. When the brunette waved to her, Lilly took it as a sign that everything was okay and she was fine to resume her surfing.

After an hour of surfing, Lilly paddled towards the beach, getting out of the water and heading towards Miley, who was tapping the eraser at the end of her pencil on her notepad. She looked up as Lilly ran towards her and shielded her eyes against the sun. "Hey, how were the waves?" Miley asked, standing up. "Were they as good as they looked from back here?"

"They weren't bad, but they could have been better," Lilly said, hoisting her board up and sticking it upright in the sand. "What did Oliver say?"

"He told me about Mark and pointed him out to me," Miley said darkly, staring down the beach and pointing him out to Lilly. "I've been watching him ever since, but he hasn't even glanced in your direction. Hopefully it'll stay that way."

"Well, I was planning on heading back to your house to take a shower," Lilly said, picking her board up out of the sand and swinging it under her arm. "What do you think? Do you want to stay here for a little while longer or do you want to head back? It's up to you."

"Whatever you want, sweetie," Miley said, kissing her gently.

"Okay, let's head back to your house, then," Lilly said, swinging her free arm around Miley's waist and smiling as she squealed and shimmied away from her. "What, are you afraid of a little water or something?" Lilly asked mischievously. "Come on, don't you love me?"

"Of course I do," Miley said. "I just don't love the fact that you're wet."

Lilly grinned and ran at Miley, dropping her surfboard as she lifted the brunette up. She swung her around laughing as they both fell on the ground, rolling in the sand and landing with Miley on top of Lilly, their faces centimeters away. "I love you," Miley whispered, her lips hovering just above Lilly's. She suddenly jumped to her feet, laughing at the disappointed look on Lilly's face. "Hey, that's what you get for doing that to me this morning."

"Fine, but I'm going to get you," Lilly said, standing up and grabbing her surfboard. "Come on, I want to take a shower and get some of that French toast your dad is making. It smelled really good and I think someone in China could hear my stomach growling right now."

They ran towards Miley's house, Lilly dropping her surfboard on the back deck and running into the house with Miley close behind her. Mr. Stewart turned as they burst into the house, shaking his head as they raced up the stairs towards Miley's room. "I guess I'll get making the French toast!" he yelled over the squealing coming from Miley's room. "And don't you be doing anything that you would be ashamed to do in front of me, you hear me?"

"Yes, Daddy!" Miley yelled as Lilly grabbed a change of clothes from Miley's closet and headed into the bathroom. She quickly pulled her wetsuit off, or as pulled it off as quickly as she could, and stepped into the shower, sighing as she felt the warm water pelt her skin. Suddenly her father's face appeared in her mind and she stumbled back into the wall of the shower, yelping as she fell.

"Hey, Lilly, are you okay in there?" Miley asked from outside the bathroom door. "Do you need me to come in there?"

"I-I'm f-fine," Lilly yelled.

"Okay," Miley said uncertainly. "Well, just call me if you need me."

Lilly quickly stood up, squeezing her eyes shut as she tried to banish her father's face from her mind, tears pouring down her cheeks as she realized that it wasn't working. "M-Miley?" she yelled. There was no answer. "M-Miley, p-please, I n-need you."

The door opened and Lilly was suddenly under the impression that her father was there and he was coming to get her. She slid back to the floor of the tub and pulled her knees to her chest, whimpering as she heard someone just outside the shower. The curtain pulled back to reveal Miley standing there with a worried look on her face. When she saw Lilly curled up on the floor of the tub, she climbed in, clothes and all, and gathered the blonde to her chest, rocking her back and forth.

"Tell me what happened," she whispered in Lilly's ear.

"I just g-got into the shower, and h-his f-face popped into m-my m-mind," Lilly stuttered, burying her face in Miley's shoulder.

"It's okay," Miley whispered. "He isn't here, okay? He's never going to touch you again. You're safe, now, remember? You're at my house."

"I know," Lilly whimpered.

"Hey, it's okay to cry," Miley whispered as Lilly tried to hold back her tears. "It's okay to be afraid, I just want you to know that you're safe and that no one is going to touch you if you don't want them to."

Lilly burrowed into Miley, letting her tears flow freely. She clung to Miley's t-shirt, grabbing fistfuls of it and squeezing it as she sobbed. Miley kept her close, whispering in her ear that she was safe and that she didn't need to worry about her father anymore. All of the hot water was gone by the time Lilly had calmed down and Miley swiveled around to turn the water off.

"Do you want me to stay here with you or do you want me to leave and wait outside?" Miley asked.

"Stay here," Lilly whispered. Miley nodded and stood up, her clothes dripping as she got out of the shower. She grabbed an extra towel from the cabinet, drying herself off as best as she could while Lilly got dressed. "Um, do you want me to get dry clothes for you?" Lilly asked.

"Yeah, that'd be great," Miley said, pulling off her t-shirt and wringing it out in the bathtub. Lilly ran out of the bathroom and towards Miley's closet, grabbing her a change of clothes and racing back to the bathroom to find the brunette standing in front of the mirror completely naked.

Lilly had seen Miley naked before, but it only seemed proper to turn away as Miley quickly pulled on her clothes. The brunette pulled a brush out of a drawer and pulled Lilly into her bedroom, sitting down on her bed and patting the space between her legs. "Come on, I'll brush and French braid your hair," Miley said, smiling slightly. Lilly complied and sat down, closing her eyes as the brunette started to gently pull the brush through her hair.

"Are you feeling better, now?" Miley asked after a few moments of silence.

"Yeah," Lilly said. "Thanks, Miley, I don't know what I would do without you."

There was a knock on the door and Mr. Stewart opened it slightly. "Are you two dressed in there?" he asked.

Miley rolled her eyes. "Yes, Dad," she said in an exasperated tone.

He opened the door all the way. "The French toast is ready," he said.

"Okay, thanks Dad," Miley said, starting to braid Lilly's hair. "Just let us do our hair really quick and we'll be down in a minute." Nodding, he left the room, gently closing the door behind him. "That's weird," Miley said.

"What?" Lilly asked.

"He closed the door," Miley said, finishing Lilly's braid. "Whenever I've had any of my boyfriends over or whenever Jackson's had any of his girlfriend's over, he's always made a point to keep all the doors open in the house so if we go anywhere, he can just walk right in and interrupt whatever we're doing. And he's always managed to walk in just when we're about to kiss."

"Let's see if it works this time, then," Lilly whispered, turning around to face Miley. She tucked a strand of the brunette's hair behind her ear and gently stroked her cheek, leaning forward to kiss her. Their lips touched and Miley fell back against her pillows as Lilly fell forward on top of her.

"I think we have our privacy," Miley gasped as they separated.

"Yeah, me too," Lilly whispered, scrambling to get off Miley.

"Could, um, could you brush my hair out?" Miley asked shyly after a moment. Lilly smiled and motioned for Miley to turn around, grabbing the brush from off the bed and gently pulling it through the brunette's hair. She gently French braided it, turning Miley around and kissing her gently before jumping up off the bed.

"I'm hungry, let's go eat," she said excitedly.

"Of course, I should have known that that would be the only thing on your mind," Miley sighed, standing up and heading after Lilly, who was already out the door and running down the hall towards the kitchen. When Miley got into the kitchen, Lilly was sitting at the island, a large plate of French toast in front of her, maple syrup in one hand and a fork in the other.

"These are really good," Lilly said through a mouth full of French toast. "Thanks, Mr. S, I was starving back there."

"Starving, were you?" Miley asked, crossing her arms over chest and raising her eyebrows as Lilly turned to look at her with a guilty expression on her face. "Well, you seemed quite content ten minutes ago, didn't you?"

"I was just complimenting your dad's wonderful cooking," Lilly said nervously as she swallowed. "He deserves to be…"

"Don't bring me into this," Mr. Stewart said with a small smile on his face. "I just made breakfast, I'm not getting into World War Three here, okay? This is between you and Miley and I'm going to respect your guys' relationship."

"I am _so_ going to remember that," Lilly muttered as she took another bite of her French toast.

"Daddy, can Lilly come with me to Tennessee next Friday?" Miley asked.

"Yeah, I suppose," Mr. Stewart said, turning towards the frying pan and dropping anther four pieces of French toast on it to be cooked. "I'm going to have to call the school and arrange for her to be absent for three weeks, but I think I can do it. They didn't really mind you taking off for three weeks, but that's probably because it was Shannon who was on the phone and she has this hug crush on me…"

"Okay, Dad, no offense, but I don't really care," Miley said, cutting him off. "I just wanted to know if Lilly could come with me. You're going to have to call the airport and get another ticket for the flight I'm taking and make sure Lilly is sitting next to me."

"I'll do that as soon as I clean up after breakfast," Mr. Stewart said, flipping over the French toast.

"Thanks, Daddy," Miley said, giving him a big hug and sitting down next to Lilly. "This is going to be so much fun, I can't wait for you to meet all my relatives. Hopefully Luanne won't be around that much, I'm crossing my fingers…"

"She's changed a lot," Mr. Stewart said, putting another four pieces of French toast on the plate in front of Lilly. "Your grandmother called yesterday to make sure you were still coming and she said Luanne was really looking forward to you coming. She said that she even went shopping and got you something to try to make up for everything that she did to you when she came over here."

"Nothing she could ever buy me would ever make up for everything she's done for me," Miley said angrily. "If she even thinks…"

He turned to her. "I know that she did a lot of stuff to you when you were younger, but I really do think you should give her another chance," he said, running a hand through his hair. "I'm not saying that you have to be best friends with her or anything, but at least listen to what she has to say."

"Fine, but I'm not hanging out with her at all," Miley said, crossing her arms over her chest. "I'm not going to forget all that stuff she did to me. Did I tell you about the time she pushed me into the well by Grandma's house? She told me that there was a big goldfish in there and I leaned over to look for it, then suddenly I was falling forward and I landed in the well. I broke my leg and they had to lower the bucket to pull me out. She didn't even get in trouble because she ran to tell everyone!"

"She said she apologized," Mr. Stewart said, turning back to the stove.

"Well, she lied," Miley said.

"You're still upset about that?" Lilly asked incredulously.

"I broke my leg!" Miley exclaimed, throwing her hands up in the air. "I wasn't able to do the summer play at the church because I was on crutches for three months! And Luanne got the part!"

"Oh, well you left that part out," Lilly said.

"That reminds me, I have to call Oliver," Miley said, snapping her fingers. "And he's on his date with Kylie right now, so that means I'm gonna have to wait."

"Well, let's go wait in front of the TV," Lilly said, standing up and grabbing Miley's arm as she proceeded to drag her out of the kitchen and into the living room. "Your dad said that he picked up that new movie with Orlando Bloom and I really want to watch it. The critics gave it five stars and he's supposed to have a really hot… I mean, he's supposed to play his part really well."

"Nice save," Miley said, sitting down on the couch as Lilly put the movie in, turned on the TV, and grabbed the remote.

"Oh, and did I tell you that it's supposed to be really scary," Lilly said with a grin as she sat down next to Miley. "I know how much you love scary movies."

"I hate scary movies!" Miley said, close to tears. "You know I have nightmares…"

"Except for when I hold you," Lilly whispered, wrapping her arms around Miley's waist and pulling her onto her lap. "And during the scary parts, we can…"

"Cover each other's eyes," Mr. Stewart said, walking up behind them.

"I was going to say make out," Lilly whispered in Miley's ear, making the brunette giggle. "But whatever floats your boat, Mr. Stewart," she said brightly, turning to face Miley's dad. "Trust me, your daughter will be unable to see a single thing on that screen during the scary parts."

Mr. Stewart looked at Lilly warily and nodded slowly, walking away and muttering to himself. Lilly pressed the play button on the remote and grinned as Miley whimpered, covering her eyes as the movie started.

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: AshleyAlien1408, musicisinmysoul, IkarusCazadores, and Truscott. I'll try to get the next chapter up as soon as possible, but until then, REVIEW!!!!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	12. Chapter Eleven: Meeting Family

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

"This is so not fair!" Oliver complained as he cleared a space on Miley's bed and sat down. "You guys get to go off on vacation for three weeks while I'm stuck here going to school, doing homework, and sneaking out of the house to meet Kylie!"

"It's not my fault that you got in trouble for coming in past your curfew on Monday," Miley said, holding a shirt up. "Hey, Lilly, do you think I should bring this one or the pink one?"

Lilly glanced over at Miley, tilting her head and turning back to her suitcase as she shrugged. "I don't know, bring them both," she said, folding a pair of jeans and setting them neatly on top of the other clothes she had already packed. "You still have room, don't you? Or did you already pack half your closet?"

"It's always good to be prepared!" Miley said defensively, attempting to stuff the two shirts into her suitcase.

"If you would pack neatly, you would be able to fit all that in," Lilly said, walking over and dumping Miley's whole suitcase on the floor. Miley sighed as Lilly started to fold everything neatly and place it back in the suitcase. Ten minutes later, everything was repacked and there was room to spare for more clothes. "See, I told you," Lilly said with a grin, skipping back to her own suitcase and putting another pair of jeans in.

"Since when did I turn into the messy one and you turn into the neat one?" Miley asked, a puzzled expression on her face as she tried to stuff a pair of heels into her suitcase.

"It happened when I got pregnant," Lilly said, pulling the heels from Miley's hands. "And why do you need these if we're going to Tennessee?"

"You know, it's not all country over there," Miley said defensively, pulling the shoes back out of Lilly's hands, trying to ignore the look Lilly was giving her. "Okay, okay, maybe it's mostly country, but I was planning on going into Nashville for awhile and I wanted to bring something nice to wear."

"Why did you guys even ask me to come over here?" Oliver asked, standing up and throwing his hands up in the air.

"Because you're our best friend and we don't want you to feel left out," Miley said, packing her heels and going back to her closet to pull out a pair of sneakers. "That reminds me, Lilly, we're going to have to get you riding boots, and bring plenty of old jeans and t-shirts cause we're probably going to get a bit dirty."

"Okay, can you grab me a pair of sneakers?" Lilly asked. "And Oliver, you're our best friend, and we wanted you to be there when we got on the plane. We didn't think it would be nice if we just left without saying goodbye. Miley wanted to do that but I said that it would be rude."

"You would have done it two months ago," Miley muttered, grabbing a pair of worn sneakers from the closet and handing them to Lilly.

"Yeah, I'm not the same person I was two months ago," Lilly said, neatly placing the sneakers in her suitcase.

"Oliver, do you mind if I talk to Lilly alone?" Miley asked sweetly, giving him a small smile and gesturing towards the door. He nodded understandingly and left, closing the door behind him. Miley turned to Lilly, who was rummaging through her dresser and pulling out old pairs of jeans and t-shirts. "Lilly, we need to talk," she said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"What about?" Lilly asked.

"You know what we need to talk about," Miley said. "These last couple days, you've been really uptight and difficult, and I haven't said anything about it because you're pregnant, but this is just going too far. You need to stop slamming me every time I say something and then act all innocent. Just because you're in an unpleasant situation doesn't mean that you have to take it out on everyone around you. You've been doing this to me, Oliver, my dad, and even Jackson when he came to visit. We're all trying to help you, Lilly, and this is getting kind of annoying."

Lilly sighed and sat down on the bed, her jeans in her hands as tears started to run down her cheeks. "I'm sorry," she whispered, trying to wipe the tears away quickly. "I know I've been a jerk, but it's just… I'm nervous, okay? I don't want to seem too… stupid or messy or anything when we go and visit your family in Tennessee. I've already got one point against me, I don't need anything else against me."

"Is that what you're worried about?" Miley asked, sitting down next to Lilly and putting an arm around her shoulders. "Why didn't you just tell me? I could have cleared this up a long time ago. My family won't care what situation you're in, as long as you're honest, nice, and likable, and trust me, you're all three of those things. Just be yourself. No one will care that you're pregnant, and if they do and you decide to tell them the circumstances, they'll understand or my grandma will beat them over the heat with a broom until they get over themselves."

The blonde giggled and sniffled. "Really?' she whispered. "They won't care?"

"Hey, they love my sister more than she thinks she deserves," Miley said with a small smile. "And according to my dad, she's done a lot worse than you have, and you haven't even done anything. Plus, you're my girlfriend, and since you're sort of related through that relationship, they're _obligated_ to like you, no matter what they think. And that means they can't say anything mean to you until they really get to know you."

"Thanks, Miley," Lilly whispered, leaning her head on Miley's shoulder. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Not in the past fifteen minutes," Miley said.

"I love you more than anyone loves anything in the world," Lilly whispered, kissing Miley gently and snuggling into her. There were a few moments of silence in which Miley and Lilly just enjoyed being close to each other. "Do you think we should tell Oliver he can come in now or should we let him wait out there?" Lilly asked after a moment. They looked at each other. "Let's leave him out there awhile," Lilly said quickly and with a grin.

"Okay," Miley said. "But we need to finish packing because we have to leave for the airport in twenty minutes and I don't want Daddy getting mad at us because we're going to be late. He's already upset that we're going off for three weeks to visit grandma."

"Well, I'm almost packed," Lilly said. "I just have to throw in a couple more pairs of jeans and I'm good, how bout you?"

"Pretty much packed," Miley said lazily, laying back and pulling Lilly with her. The blonde giggled and rolled over to hover above the brunette, her hair falling into Miley's face. They stared into each other's eyes, getting lost in each other's gazes. There was a tentative knock on the door and it opened slightly to reveal Oliver peeking in. Miley rolled her eyes and Lilly got off her, turning to face Oliver.

"Miley, your dad said to hurry up and get your stuff out into the living room cause he wants to load it in the truck pretty soon," Oliver said. "I'm sorry if I'm interrupting something, but I thought that you would rather have me interrupt than your dad."

"Thanks, Oliver," Lilly said, getting up and throwing her jeans in her suitcase. She zipped it closed as Miley went over to her closet, grabbed an armload of clothes, and proceeded to stuff as many of them in her suitcase as possible before sitting on it and zipping it up. Lilly just shook her head and sighed as Miley looked at Oliver, indicating that he was going to bring it into the living room. He sighed and grabbed her suitcase, groaning as he lifted it and dropped it to the floor with a loud bang.

"Hey, Miley, can you help your girlfriend out and take my suitcase to the living room?" Lilly asked, sticking her lip out and making puppy dog eyes. Miley sighed and pulled Lilly's suitcase off the bed, letting it hit the floor with a loud thump. Lilly helpfully pointed out the rolling wheels and the handle and they both laughed as they realized Oliver didn't know that the suitcase he was carrying also had wheels.

Lilly and Miley caught hands, walking down the hall together with Lilly's suitcase rolling behind them. When they came to the stairs, they left the suitcase at the top and motioned for Oliver to bring it down, who was sitting at the bottom, sitting on Miley's suitcase and breathing hard. "You know that there're wheels on that, right?" Lilly asked, grinning at his astonished expression.

"This is so not fair!" he yelled as Lilly and Miley walked into the living room. Mr. Stewart looked up, his eyebrows raised as Oliver started to lug Lilly's suitcase down the stairs, the two girls standing at the bottom, pointing out ways that would either make it easier or harder for him. He finally groaned, yelled at both of them to be quiet, pushed the suitcase down the stairs where it landed on its side and bursts open, throwing Lilly's clothes all over the place.

"I'm so sorry," he said quickly, running down the stairs and hurrying to pick all of Lilly's clothes up. "I really didn't mean to do that, Lilly, I really didn't. It was just so heavy, and I didn't want to lug it all the down, so I just pushed it…" Miley clapped a hand over his mouth, pulling him to his feet and pushing him away from the mess while Lilly stared down at the open suitcase, her eyes welling up with tears.

"Hey, it's going to be okay, I'll pack it up the exact same way it was before," Miley said, bending down and starting to fold Lilly's clothes, placing them neatly back in the suitcase. She signaled to her father to take Oliver out of the room before Lilly's sorrow turned to anger that would be unleashed on the unsuspecting teenage boy. "Lilly, are you okay? It's fine, it's going to be okay, I'm putting it all back," Miley said quickly, packing everything neatly, zipping up the suitcase, and setting it neatly on its wheels.

Tears started to trickle slowly down Lilly's cheeks as she stared at the place where her clothes had previously been spread out. Miley stood up and wrapped her arms around the blonde, who leaned into her, still staring at the same spot on the floor. "I don't know why I'm so upset," she finally whispered. "It's the most stupid thing to be upset about. And I'm not even mad at Oliver, it was just an accident. It just made me… really sad."

"Mood swings come with pregnancy, honey," Miley said quietly, kissing Lilly's hair. "It's okay, it's expected. As long as you don't try to hide it from me. Just tell me if you're feeling like crap and we'll try to figure something out to fix whatever's wrong, okay? You're not going through this alone, remember that."

"Thanks," Lilly whispered, leaning her head against Miley's shoulder. "Have I told you how much I love you?"

"Not in the past ten minutes," Miley whispered, smiling slightly as Lilly kissed her lightly. Fifteen minutes later, they were all in the car heading towards the airport, Mr. Stewart driving with Oliver in the passenger's seat and the girls in the back. They giggled with each other and snuck kisses when Oliver and Mr. Stewart weren't looking, simply holding hands and trying to look innocent whenever they looked into the backseat.

Arriving at the airport, Mr. Stewart and Oliver pulled the suitcases out of the trunk and pulled them towards the entrance, Lilly and Miley catching hands and following them. It took them forty-five minutes to go through the lines and to get to security. At this point, Lilly was feeling more and more nervous about going to Tennessee to meet Miley's family and Miley was getting more and more excited. "Hey, it's going to be fine," Miley whispered in Lilly's ear when she noticed that Lilly was tapping her foot nervously as she waited for Oliver to come out of the bathroom.

"What if they don't like me?" Lilly asked.

"Then they're idiots and they're obviously not related to me because anyone related to me has to see how amazingly beautiful and amazing you are," Miley whispered, kissing Lilly gently. "I don't care what they think because I love you and you love me and that's all that matters. If they say something mean, just come to me and I'll take care of it, okay? And if you don't want to stay, we can always get an early flight back to Malibu."

"I don't want to do that…" Lilly whispered.

"But I don't want you to be upset because then I'll be upset," Miley said. "I'd rather be back here having fun with you than over in Tennessee upset because my family was stupid. And if Luanne says anything, and I mean _anything_, that could be taken as rude or intended to be mean, come to me and I'll _definitely_ take care of that."

"Miley…" Lilly started.

"Girls, you should get to your plane now," Mr. Stewart said, and they both stood up from the bench they had been sitting on. He gave Lilly a hug, then pulled Miley into his arms, rocking her back and forth, whispering in her ear. Lilly went over to Oliver and he hesitantly put his arms around her, a look of surprise appearing on his face when she pulled him into a tight hug, burying her face in his shoulder.

"I'm gonna miss you," she whispered, and he awkwardly patted her on the back.

"Yeah, I'm gonna miss you, too," he said, finally pulling her close. "And, hey, if you ever need to talk to me, just call me and I'll drop what I'm doing, no matter what it is. Especially if it's in the middle of school."

"Hey," Lilly said, pulling away and slapping him on the arm playfully as she laughed. "I know where this is going. The only reason you want me to call you is so you can get out of school. I'm going to make sure that I either call before or after school, now."

"Darn, I knew I shouldn't've said anything," Oliver said, smiling. The smile faded. "But really, if you ever need to talk to me, I'm always open, okay? You're my best friend and I'm not going to bail on you."

"Thanks Oliver, I always knew I could count on you," Lilly whispered. Miley walked up behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and kissing her on the top of the head. Lilly smiled and leaned back into Miley as the brunette mouthed 'thank you' to Oliver. He smiled and nodded, gesturing towards the line leading to the security they had to go through before getting on their plane. "I'll keep in touch," Miley said, leading Lilly towards the security, grabbing both of their bags and getting in line.

Once they were through security, they found their gate and boarded their plane, taking their seats and sitting down. They argued for five minutes about who was going to get the window seat and Lilly finally won, promising that she would let Miley sit by the window on the flight back to Malibu. Halfway through the flight, Lilly fell asleep on Miley's shoulder, snoring softly as Miley gently placed her chin on top of her head, stroking her hair softly.

When the plane got there, Miley gently woke Lilly up, grabbing their bags from the overhead compartment and leading her out of the plane, keeping a hold on her hand the whole time. Lilly followed her sleepily, rubbing the exhaustion from her eyes and gradually waking up as she realized she was in Tennessee.

"Here, we exit here and go get our luggage," Miley said, leading Lilly to the baggage claim and searching the conveyor belt for their suitcases. Lilly spotted Miley's suitcase and pointed it out to the brunette, faltering when she saw a young woman take it off and head towards them.

"Aislinn!" Miley squealed, running towards the girl and throwing her arms around her neck. Lilly followed hesitantly, spotting her suitcase on the conveyor belt and pulling it off to lug it back towards Miley and her sister. They were both talking quickly, gesturing wildly with their hands and hugging repeatedly. "And this is Lilly Truscott," Miley said, pulling the blonde forward to stand in front of Aislinn.

"So you're the best friend I've been hearing about for years," Aislinn said with a small smile. She had the same wavy hair as Miley, but a much lighter color, and her eyes were a soft brown instead of Miley's sea green. "It's nice to meet you, Lilly."

"Nice to meet you, too," Lilly said quietly, stiffening as Aislinn embraced her. She stepped back immediately after Miley's sister let go of her and cast her eyes to the ground, digging the toe of her shoe into the floor. Miley put a gentle hand on Lilly's shoulder and the blonde looked up to see a confused expression on Aislinn's face.

"We'll explain to you when we get back home," Miley said, swinging her and Lilly's book bags over her shoulder and grabbing Lilly's suitcase as Aislinn grabbed Miley's. "Really, we'll explain everything," Miley said when Aislinn gave Lilly an odd look for not grabbing anything to carry. "It's all going to make sense, trust me."

"Okay," Aislinn said quietly. Miley caught hands with Lilly, following Aislinn out of the airport to the parking lot and an old, beat-up pickup truck. Aislinn threw Miley's suitcase in the back and Miley mimicked her with Lilly's suitcase and the book bags. She opened the door for Lilly and got in after her, managing to squeeze the both of them into the front seat.

Miley did most of the talking, explaining everything that had happened since she had last seen Aislinn the summer before, with the exception of what had happened to Lilly in the last two months. Aislinn nodded the whole time, keeping her eyes on the road but obviously listening. Lilly just sat beside Miley, trying not to doze off against the door. Ten minutes passed before she nodded off, leaning against the window and snoring softly. Miley smiled slightly when she saw Lilly was asleep and put an arm around her shoulders, pulling her close and starting to comb her fingers through her long, blonde hair.

After a two-hour car ride, Miley woke Lilly up as they bumped down an old dirt driveway. Lilly leaned her head on Miley's shoulder tiredly and closed her eyes, not caring that they would be getting out of the car soon. The truck came to a stop and Miley unbuckled them, opening the door and gently lifting Lilly out. She carried her into the house, setting her on the couch, whispering something in her ear before heading back outside. A few minutes later, Lilly opened her eyes and looked around the room she was in with interest.

It was obviously the living room with a large fireplace being the focal point of the room. Three long couches were arranged in a U in front of the fireplace, Lilly lying on the one directly facing it. A flat screen TV stood on a stand in one of the corners, several rocking chairs with baskets on them in another. In the third corner were bookshelves filled with books and magazines, and a large dog bed occupied the fourth corner. Quilts hung on the walls and were draped over the couches and Lilly found the door to be directly behind the couch she was lying on. The floors were genuine wood and there were woven rugs covering it, laying in an uneven pattern across the floor.

"You know the rules, Miley Rae," a woman was saying in the other room. "If she wants to eat and sleep here, she has to work, and part of that work includes bringing her own suitcase and book bag in from the truck. I assume you're going to tell her this…"

"Grandma, I told you that I would explain," Miley said quickly and there was a loud thump as she set something, probably a book bag, down on the ground. "These are special circumstances, and she'll be happy to help, I'm sure. She'll probably insist on helping. She's great in the kitchen, you know. It's just… she can't lift heavy things, okay? It's complicated. Just… welcome her, please?"

"She isn't that happy with you," someone said, and Lilly whirled around to see a girl almost identical to Miley standing in front of the couch she was lying on. Immediately recognizing her as Luanne, she became wary of what she was going to say. "Look, I'm not going to bite you or anything, okay? I'm sorry for what I did when we met, but I've changed."

Lilly looked at her closely and realized that she looked different from Miley. Her eyes were a dark green, her hair was cut short and straightened, and her face was shaped differently. She sighed in relief, knowing that she could tell Miley apart from Luanne if Miley's cousin ever tried to pull a prank on them.

"Luanne, so you've met Lilly?" Aislinn said, walking into the room, a grin on her face. "I'm sure the two of you will get along just fine, then."

"Not exactly," Lilly murmured.

"What did you do last time, Luanne?" Aislinn asked, sighing.

"Tried to reveal that Miley was Hannah Montana by switching places with her," Luanne mumbled by sticking her hands in the pocket of her hoodie.

"Luanne," Aislinn sighed, running a hand through her hair. "You know, I won't tell Grandma about this one, okay? But if anything like this ever happens again, I'm going to, do you understand? Miley is my little sister and I'm not going to let you hurt her."

"Yeah, I know," Luanne said. "I tried to apologize several times, but Miley always hung up on me. Not that I blame her, really. I've done so much horrible stuff to her. I wouldn't blame her if she never spoke to me again."

"She _will_ speak to you," Aislinn said with conviction. "It isn't right for family members not to speak with each other." Lilly winced and looked down at her lap, remembering what Miley had told her about the relationship between her father and Aislinn. Obviously Aislinn took communication within the family very serious because of that.

"I was just saying…" Luanne mumbled as Miley and an older woman walked into the room. Luanne immediately stiffened when she saw Miley and darted from the room using the door next to the fireplace that Lilly hadn't noticed before. Miley's eyes narrowed, but she didn't say anything about Luanne as she went to sit down next to Lilly.

"You can explain now," the older woman said, putting her hands on her hips.

"First of all, can I introduce you?" Miley asked. "You may know who Lilly is, but she doesn't know you."

"I'm Miley's grandmother," the woman said to Lilly. "Now explain, Miss Stewart. And it had better be good."

Miley sighed. "First of all, you should know that Lilly and I are dating," she said bluntly, surprising everyone in the room. Lilly stared at her with her mouth hanging open, astonished that Miley would be so open about her relationship when she was with her family. Aislinn raised her eyebrows, her mouth slightly open as she fell back to sit on the couch to the right of Miley and Lilly's. And Miley's grandmother folded her arms across her chest, tapping her foot impatiently, the only sign of surprise being the curiosity barely showing in her eyes.

"Keep going," she said impatiently. "I want to know why your friend can't bring in her own luggage."

"Is this a place where no one will hear us?" Miley asked, glancing at the door that Luanne had just gone through.

"Your cousin is most likely out in the barn," her grandmother said. "She doesn't like to stay in the house much when we have company, and she likes to stay in the house even less when you're hear because she thinks you're still mad at her. I expect you to fix that as soon as you're finished explaining your friend's special situation to me. Other than the fact that she's your girlfriend, I mean."

"Not even a congratulations," Miley muttered, making Lilly smile slightly. Miley glanced at Lilly uncertainly, asking permission to tell what she had withheld from her sister. Lilly nodded and looked down at her lap again, playing with her fingers nervously.

"Okay, you should probably sit down, grandma," Miley said quietly. Her tone of voice evoked a curious look from her grandmother and she sat down next to Aislinn. "About two months ago, Lilly and I got into a fight over an annual sleepover we've had every year since we met. I told her that I couldn't do it that weekend because I had a Hannah concert when in reality, it was because of the anniversary of the death of my mother." She paused for a moment.

"Lilly got upset because I didn't tell her it was the anniversary. She ran off before school, going into the city by herself. While she was there, she… she was raped," Miley whispered. She paused again, putting an arm around Lilly's waist and whispering in her ear, eliciting a nod from the blonde. Lilly looked up to see a sympathetic look on Aislinn's face and an expression of astonishment and sorrow on Miley's grandmother's face.

"She was really upset and I had to come and get her," Miley whispered. "A week later, we went to the doctor's and found out that Lilly was pregnant. That she _is_ pregnant. Later, I got upset with her and I… I told her to go away. So she… she went and jumped off a bridge. She had some extensive bruising on her spine and the doctor said that she was lucky that she wasn't paralyzed and that she didn't lose the baby." Miley was speaking in a rush now. "We told Oliver about the baby. When we told Lilly's mom about the baby, she was pretty much fine with it, but when we told her that we're dating, she kicked Lilly out of the house."

"You c-can tell them th-the other thing, t-too," Lilly stuttered, trying to keep the tears in her eyes from running down her face.

"I think you should tell them," Miley whispered.

"Wait, there's more?" Aislinn asked.

Lilly looked up. "My father raped me when I was little."

There was a long moment of silence. Lilly started to cry and Miley pulled her into her arms, kissing her hair gently and murmuring in her ear. Aislinn just stared at the both of them, her eyes wide and her mouth hanging open while Miley's grandmother blinked rapidly, shaking her head as she licked her lips anxiously. "I'm sorry," she finally said. "I shouldn't have been rude before about you bringing in your luggage. I should have known that any friend of Miley's would be polite enough to try to help around the house except for under special circumstances like these."

"You're keeping the baby?" Aislinn whispered, looking at Miley and Lilly with tears in her eyes. "Right? You're keeping the baby?"

"Yes," Miley confirmed. "We're going through all of this together and Lilly's decided that she doesn't want an abortion and she doesn't want to give the baby away."

"Good," Aislinn said decisively. "I… I think I'm going to start making dinner. Please excuse me." She got up and left the room, surprising Lilly who had momentarily stopped crying to hear Miley's family's reactions to what she and the brunette had just told them.

"She's just a little shaky when that particular subject comes up," Miley's grandmother explained. "And I really am sorry about what I said before. I really had no idea that you had gone through all that. I'm usually not that mean, but sometimes people get on my nerves and I take it out on those who don't deserve it."

"Was it the man at the farmers' market again?" Miley asked with a small laugh.

"He has it out for me!" her grandmother exclaimed, standing up.

That was when Lilly knew that she would be welcomed in Miley's grandmother's house. Miley smiled down at her, kissing her gently and playfully lifting her, running through the doorway as they both laughed. Right now, it seemed like Lilly was on top of the world, and there was nothing and no one who could knock her down.

_**Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: Truscott, JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, and AshleyAlien1408. Please REVIEW and I'll get the next chapter up as soon as possible.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	13. Chapter Twelve: Take My Hand

_**Here's the next chapter.**_

"This is the room I use whenever I visit," Miley said, opening a door on the third floor of the house to reveal a large bedroom. She motioned for Lilly to step in and explore, which the blonde eagerly did. A large bed was pressed up against the far wall, the headboard pressed up against the wall next to the window and the foot of the bed closest to the door. There were two nightstands; one on either side and a desk against the wall on the right next to a door that Lilly assumed was the closet. Miley flopped down on the bed, sighing contentedly as she spread out.

"You really love it here, don't you?" Lilly asked, sitting down on the bed next to Miley and tracing the pattern on her shirt over her stomach. Miley giggled slightly at the feeling of Lilly's fingers skating across her cloth-covered skin and sat up quickly, pulling Lilly into a fierce kiss. Lilly responded eagerly, her tongue hesitantly tracing Miley's bottom lip before they jumped apart at a knock on the doorframe.

"I don't want to interrupt, but Grandma said that she needs help making dinner," Aislinn said, her eyes focused on a spot on the floor. "She said Lilly is more than welcome to help if she would like or to rest if she feels that she needs some sleep. But I see that both of you have the energy to come down and help us prepare dinner. And Miley, Grandma said she wants two dozen eggs from the chicken coop for breakfast tomorrow morning. Maybe you can show Lilly around outside." She looked up at the two girls, winking at them and turning to leave.

"Come on, let's go," Miley said eagerly, jumping to her feet and pulling Lilly out the door behind her. "I can show you the barn and the loft… you're going to love it."

"Does this have anything to do with that wink your sister gave you?" Lilly asked.

"Maybe."

Miley led Lilly down two flights of stairs to the first floor, heading out to the yard and cutting across a large vegetable garden to a large barn. She pulled one of the large doors open and motioned for Lilly to follow her inside. It was dark inside the barn and Lilly could hear animals stomping off to her left and right and could faintly see Miley in front of her. Suddenly lights came on; illuminating the barn and Lilly looked around to see rows and rows of stalls filled with horses. She gasped in surprise, her eyes wide as she continued to stare at the horses surrounding her and Miley.

"They're beautiful, aren't they?" Miley asked with a small smile, grabbing Lilly's hand and pulling her closer. "But they can be dangerous, too. You have to be careful around them. Promise me that you won't ever come out here by yourself. And don't ever, ever, _ever_ get into one of the stalls without someone here who knows what they're doing. I don't want you to get hurt."

"Okay," Lilly whispered, still staring around at the horses.

"Do you want to see _my_ horse?" Miley asked eagerly and Lilly nodded, following the brunette as she led her down this particular row of stalls all the way to the end. She stopped in front of a stall containing a white horse and climbed over the stall door, talking to the horse in a quiet, comforting tone. The horse flared its nostrils in surprise and stepped back against the back of the stall, but Miley quickly calmed it down, stroking its forehead gently as she whispered to it. "Lilly, meet my baby girl, Blue Jeans."

"She's beautiful," Lilly whispered.

"We can ride her after dinner," Miley said, giving Blue Jeans one last pat on the head before hopping over the stall door. "But right now, Grandma is going to be wondering where her eggs are and I don't want to be doing extra chores on the first day I get here. Come on, I'll show you how to gather eggs then we can go back into the house and see how dinner's coming along."

After gathering eggs, Miley and Lilly went back into the house, Miley leading Lilly to the kitchen and setting the basket of eggs on the table as she tried to grab a biscuit from the plate on the counter. She hissed in pain as a wooden spoon smacked down on her wrist and pulled her hand back, cradling her hand. "How come you always do that?" she asked indignantly, showing her injured hand to Lilly who looked it over with a concerned expression on her face.

"Because you never ask," Miley's grandmother said, stirring a pot on the stove with the wooden spoon with which she had just smacked Miley. "Now if you had asked, I probably would have let you. But you never learn." She shook her head, continuing to stir the contents of the pot.

"Here, I'll make it better," Lilly whispered, bringing Miley's wrist to her lips and kissing it gently. Miley's eyes fluttered closed at the feel of Lilly's lips against her skin and she bit her lip, keeping any sound from coming out of her mouth.

"I've just sent Aislinn out to get Luanne to help with dinner, so you two shouldn't be needed," Miley's grandmother suddenly said. "We'll be ready in about an hour. You two go explore and come back when I ring the dinner bell."

"Thanks Grandma!" Miley exclaimed as she dragged Lilly back up to their room.

"Miley, I can't run around like this," Lilly gasped, collapsing on the bed as Miley shut the door behind them. "I haven't really been active for a while and I'm not in shape. You have to stop running me around like this."

"Here, we can unpack now so we don't have to do anything later," Miley said, pulling her suitcase up onto the bed and unzipping it. "This way, when my grandma asks if we've unpacked, she'll be impressed with us and give us more free time to just hang out instead of having us clean the whole house to teach us the importance of cleanliness." She pulled a dresser drawer open and carefully started to place her t-shirts inside.

"I'm guessing that you've been taught this lesson multiple times," Lilly laughed, unzipping her own suitcase and unpacking a pile of jeans. Miley rolled her eyes and sighed, closing the drawer and moving on to the next one. Five minutes later, she was completely unpacked and she had slid her suitcase underneath the bed. She helped Lilly put her clothes away and slid her suitcase under the bed, as well.

"Now what do we do?" Lilly asked, sitting down on the bed, tracing the pattern on the quilt that covered the large bed. "I mean, we have less than an hour, so it isn't like we could do much, is it?"

"We could play a card game," Miley said, pulling a deck of cards out of the nightstand on the right side of the bed. "What games do you know?"

"War, blackjack, and go fish," Lilly said.

"That's it?" Miley asked.

"Hey, I spend most of my time at the beach, the skate park, the basketball courts and soccer fields, and the gym," Lilly defended, a hurt expression on her face. "I've never really had any reason to learn how to play card games. You could always teach me."

"Nah, I'll teach you later when we play with Grandma and Aislinn," Miley said, shuffling the deck of cards and dealing it out in two piles. "We can play blackjack for now. Grandma'll have fun teaching you how to play poker. She loves that game. Just don't bet her anything, she only takes time doing chores and she bets high. She's really good at that game, let me tell you."

Half an hour later, after a large amount of slapping, throwing cards, and playful putting, Aislinn came up to their bedroom door and told them that they should pick up the cards scattered across the room and come down to dinner. Laughing, Lilly and Miley picked the cards up, running downstairs to see that dinner was already laid out on the table and Miley's grandma, Aislinn, and Luanne were already seated.

"This looks really good, thank you for making dinner and letting me and Miley get settled in," Lilly said as she sat down in the chair Miley pointed out to her.

"You're most certainly very welcome," her grandma said generously. "Now, let's pray before we eat and we can hear all about what's been going on over in California and your trip over here."

Miley grasped Lilly's hand and Aislinn reached out, grabbing Lilly's other hand. She looked at Miley with a confused expression on her face and the brunette just made a point of closing her eyes and bowing her head, taking her grandmother's hand in her own as Aislinn and her grandmother caught hands with Luanne.

"Our Heavenly Father," her grandma said reverently. "We gather at this table to thank you for the many things you have blessed us with. We thank you for bringing Miley and Lilly to us safely and letting them find a love in each other that is pure and true. We thank you for giving us the means to live in a comfortable home and be able to provide ourselves with more food than we can eat. And we ask that you would put your shield of protection around those we love and even those we may not love. Please bless this food to our bodies. Amen."

"Amen," everyone murmured, letting go of each other's hands and looking around eagerly at the food set on the table. Miley squeezed Lilly's hand once very lightly and then let it go, immediately grabbing for the mashed potatoes in the middle of the table. Lilly looked around hesitantly and, seeing everyone else already serving their food, started to server herself vegetables.

"Here, do you want potatoes?" Miley asked, holding the bowl out. Lilly nodded and Miley plopped a generous amount of the potatoes on her plate, passing it to her grandmother on her other side. Once everyone was served with some sort of arrangement of potatoes, chicken, vegetables, and biscuits, they started eating.

"So what's going on with all the big movie stars over there in Hollywood?" Miley's grandma asked just as Miley took a big bite of chicken. She started to speak with her mouth full, but Lilly quickly answered for her.

"Jesse McCartney asked Hannah Montana out five times in one week," Lilly said, glaring at Miley to be quiet. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Miley, how many times have I told you that? He's actually getting kind of stalkerish. It's getting annoying. Whenever we ride home from a concert, we have to switch out of the limos at least three times, if not more, so he doesn't follow us back to Miley's house."

"He's kind of cute, actually," Miley said, swallowing her mouth full of food and taking a drink of water. "He sent Hannah flowers the other day. Assorted roses, they were pretty. I kind of wish he would get the hint, though. I've talked to my dad and he doesn't think the label would let me announce that Hannah is dating Lola, although I'm thinking I might let something slip during an interview or something."

"Let something slip?" Luanne asked, raising an eyebrow. "Haven't you done that already? You made the front page of the paper, even all the way back here in the middle of nowhere. Hannah's the talk of the town."

"What do you mean by that?" Miley asked defensively.

"Apparently paparazzi were around and you didn't realize it," Luanne said, getting up and grabbing a newspaper off the kitchen counter. She handed it to Miley and Lilly dropped her fork on her plate to look over her shoulder and see what Luanne was talking about. Right there on the front page was a large picture of Hannah Montana clearly kissing her best friend, Lola Luftnagle. Lilly's eyes widened at the title at the top of the paper. 'HANNAH MONTANA CAUGHT KISSING BEST FRIEND?'

"_A week ago, Hannah Montana, sixteen-year-old teen pop sensation and role model to hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of young girls around the world, was caught kissing her best friend, Lola Luftnagle, after her concert Tuesday night_," Miley read from the newspaper. "_But should we be surprised? It's been clear for_… one minute, the article is continued on the next page," she muttered, flipping through the paper.

"_It's been clear for a long time, ever since her fleeting romance with Jake Ryan, international movie star and teen heartthrob, that she hasn't been interested in boys. Jesse McCartney, music sensation and longtime admirer of Hannah Montana, said that he has 'expressed his love for her several times, but has been rejected ever time. [Hannah] said that she loved someone else.' Jesse said that he was not surprised when he heard that Hannah and Lola are seemingly more than friends._

"_But the big question is: what impact will this have on Miss Montana's career. With so many kids all around the world looking up to her as a role model, will this be acceptable behavior? Will parents continue to allow their children to be exposed to Hannah Montana when she so obviously rebels against society?_

"_One parent with a thirteen-year-old girl who has been a Hannah Montana fan since the pop sensation first appeared almost four years ago says that she has put away all Hannah Montana paraphernalia and forbid her daughter to listen to any of her music. The concerned mother fears that the rebellious attitude of Miss Montana will rub off on her child and drive her out of control._

"_But another mother says that she encourages her child to expose herself to figures such as Hannah Montana who are courageous enough to be honest about themselves and expose themselves in the public light. 'We need more people like her around,' the woman said confidently. 'I admire her for coming out in such a condemning and finger-pointing world and I support her wholeheartedly.'_

"_Several efforts have been made to get a statement from Hannah Montana and Lola Luftnagle, but they can not be reached at the time. Hannah is said to be taking a few weeks off from concerts, interviews, and fundraisers to spend some time with her family in friends, one of them coincidentally being Lola Luftnagle herself…_"

"Stop," Lilly said, snatching the paper from Miley's hands, folding it up, and sitting on it. She could see that Miley was getting angrier and angrier as the article went on and it continued for two more pages. "There's no need to get upset over this. I'm not upset about this, you obviously didn't purposely tell someone about it to get this out to the public without consulting me. We've talked about this before and we aren't going to worry about it right now. We're here to have a good time with your family and we're not going to let some stupid newspaper article ruin it for us."

Miley stared straight ahead. "That's my whole career," she whispered. "I didn't even get to tell them… my whole career has been put in danger because our relationship is being shown in the wrong light. I have to call my dad."

"No, you don't," Lilly said firmly, surprising everyone at the table. "I told you, Miley, we're not going to worry about this now and let this ruin this dinner that your family has worked on for us. This is exactly what the media wants to happen. They want you to respond to them and give them statement after statement about our relationship when in reality we should just wait a while and see how this turns out. Who knows, maybe this is good."

There was a moment of tension-filled silence. "You're right," Miley sighed, and Lilly nodded contentedly. "I'm sorry for freaking out. If I need to deal with this then I'll do it later when we aren't spending time together as a family." Aislinn's mouth had dropped open and Miley's grandmother's eyebrows were raised. Luanne was focused on the food in front of her on her plate, almost as if she wasn't part of the family and nothing that was happening had any effect on her.

"Since when was anyone able to calm Miley down that quickly?" Aislinn asked after a moment of surprised silence.

"She's almost always listened to me when she's been angry," Lilly said, further surprising Aislinn and Miley's grandmother. "What, did she usually blow up when she was here with you guys? I've seen her blow up before, and let me tell you, it isn't a pretty sight."

Everyone laughed, with the exception of Luanne, and the tension at the table eased considerably. They all started eating again, joking with each other and telling stories about what had happened while Miley was in Malibu. Lilly was told some embarrassing stories about Miley, like the time she was caught kissing the son of one of the men her grandmother had hired for the summer behind the chicken coop. Miley blushed at this, looking away from Lilly.

"Hey, are they going to catch _us_ kissing behind the chicken coop?" Lilly whispered in her ear, and Miley's face turned completely red.

"How about we stop embarrassing Miley?" Aislinn said, laughing. "She might permanently turn red. Can you imagine how much cover-up it would take for her to look even halfway normal?" This only made everyone laugh harder and Miley clench her jaw angrily. Lilly put a hand on her leg, calming her down considerably.

"You know what, if everyone's finishing up, how about I start cleaning up?" Lilly asked, standing up and placing her napkin neatly on the table. "I feel bad for not helping make dinner and I feel like I need to make that up to you."

"Oh, no, it's okay, you don't know where anything is," Miley's grandmother said, starting to stand up herself.

"Miley can help me," Lilly said, smiling down at the brunette, who smiled up at her and nodded. "See, you guys can take a break and relax while Miley and I clean up. We'll have plenty of time to hang out later."

"As long as you feel that way," Miley's grandmother said carefully, slowly sitting back down. "If you need help, don't hesitate to ask."

"Okay," Lilly said cheerfully as everyone stood up and left the table. Miley's grandmother stood in the doorway leading to the living room, watching Lilly and Miley carefully. Lilly started to clean the plates up and Miley demonstrated how she should rinse all the plates off before putting them in the dishwasher. They quickly cleaned the table, laughing with each other and sneaking kisses in whenever they could. Miley's grandmother just shook her head, smiling as she left the room.

"We're finished," Miley said, wiping her hands on her jeans an hour later. She pulled Lilly in for a gentle kiss and grabbed her hand, pulling her into the living room with everyone else. "Hey, do you guys mind if we head out to the barn and take a quick ride on Blue Jeans? We'll try to be quick."

"Take your time, this is your vacation," Miley's grandmother said, looking up from her knitting in front of the fire. Aislinn and Luanne were nowhere to be seen. "Luanne went out to the barn and I'm assuming that she took Red out for a ride down by the creek, and Aislinn is probably up in her room working on homework for her online classes. Just make sure you take a phone with you, and don't forget the whistles. Watch for storms and come in if you see anything dangerous, do you understand me?"

"Yes, Grandma," Miley said, and she pulled Lilly out of the living room and out to the barn. She grabbed a saddle and carried it down to her horse's stall, hanging it over the wall and opening the door. Taking a brush from a shelf in the stall next to the one she was standing in, she quickly brushed Blue Jeans, saddling her up and turning to Lilly. "I'm going to mount first," she said. "And you can mount behind me. Don't worry about falling or anything, I'll help you."

She led Blue Jeans out of the stall and outside to a mounting block. She swung up onto the horse's back without the aid of the block and softly tapped her heels to the horse's sides, making it move up next to the block. "Just climb up on the block and I'll help you through the rest," Miley said encouragingly. Lilly nodded and gulped, climbing onto to the block and looking at Miley with fear in her eyes.

"Here, take my hand," Miley said, reaching down and taking Lilly's hand. "Now put your right foot in the stirrup and lift yourself up. That's it, now swing your leg over and sit down right behind me." Lilly did as Miley said, sitting behind the brunette and wrapping her arms tightly around her middle. "Hey, you don't have to squeeze so hard," Miley laughed.

"Tell me when it's over," Lilly whispered, squeezing her eyes shut.

"Hey, hey, don't talk like that," Miley said, turning slightly in the saddle so she was looking at Lilly. "Here, open your eyes." Lilly opened her eyes. "This isn't that bad at all. It's fun. We'll start out slow and we won't go any faster if you aren't comfortable with it, okay? Just hold onto me and tell me if you want to stop, okay?"

"Okay," Lilly whispered, and Miley kissed her softly.

"It's gonna be fun. I promise that you'll like it," she whispered. She turned around again and took a hold of the reins, clicking her tongue and tapping her heels to the horse's side. Lilly squeezed Miley nervously as the horse started forward slowly. Miley directed it around in a small circle to let Lilly get used to the motions of the horse, gradually widening the circle with each pass. "Are you ready to go a bit faster now?" she asked.

"Yeah, I guess so," Lilly said.

"We don't have to do this if you don't want to," Miley said gently. "We can stop right now and find something else to do."

"No, go ahead," Lilly said firmly. "I want to do this. I'll never forgive myself if I let this pass."

"If you're sure," Miley said, and she tapped her heels on the horse's sides again. Blue Jeans started to go faster and Miley looked back at Lilly to see a determined expression on her face. The brunette laughed and tapped the reins once, signaling Blue Jeans to head out and away from the barn.

"Where are we going?" Lilly asked as Miley urged Blue Jeans to go a little faster.

"You'll see," Miley said.

Lilly laughed as the wind blew through her hair, making it stream out behind her. Miley grinned, laughing as well. The sun was setting in front of them and Miley urged the horse to go faster and faster until they were galloping. Lilly felt exhilaration rush through her as she took in everything around her. She was sitting astride a horse, holding her girlfriend around the waist, and riding through some of the most beautiful scenery she had ever seen before. They rode through fields of swaying grass, woods full of changing autumn leaves, and past a shining lake.

They finally started to slow down and Miley dismounted when Blue Jeans came to a stop. She helped Lilly down, wrapping her arms around her and twirling her around. "I love you so much," she whispered to the blonde.

"I love you, too," Lilly whispered back, kissing her gently.

"Come on, you're gonna miss it," Miley said.

"What…" Lilly started, but Miley grabbed her hand, jerking her out of the woods they had stopped in and to the edge of a cliff. She pointed into the distance where the sun was starting to set. Rays of red, orange, pink, and yellow stretched across the sky, receding as the darkness crowded around the edges. Lilly leaned into Miley, who put an arm around her shoulders and pulled her close.

"We should be going now," Miley whispered as the last rays of the sun disappeared over the horizon and stars started to blink to life in the sky. She took Lilly by the hand and led her over to Blue Jeans, mounting quickly and pulling the blonde up after her. They galloped through the night, and Lilly felt like they were the only ones in the world at that moment. It was just her, Miley, and the horse beneath them. She rested her head against Miley's back, closing her eyes and starting to drift off to sleep, the steady pattern of the horse's hooves beating against the ground lulling her to sleep.

Suddenly someone was lifting her down off the horse, steadying her as her feet touched the ground. There was a hushed argument and then Miley's familiar and gentle arms were once again wrapping around her, then lifting her, and she was being carried across uneven ground, up and up, into the house, up stairs, and then being set down on a bed. Someone was gently taking her shoes off, then her coat…

"No!" she yelled, sitting up quickly and seeing only a surprised Miley jumping back, her hands in the air. When she realized that it was just Miley and that no one was going to hurt her, she collapsed back on the bed, curling up into a ball and starting to cry. There was a creaking of bedsprings as Miley sat down behind her, putting a hesitant hand on her arm.

"Are you okay?" Miley asked quietly, worriedly.

"It's not fair," Lilly cried. "It's like…just when I'm starting to think that I'm going to be okay, when I think that I'm going to finally have something go my way, it all comes back to me. The memories of those men, of my father, and I think…I think it's happening to me again. No matter how hard I try to focus on other things, they keep coming back."

Miley wrapped her arms around Lilly, pulling her close as she kissed her tears away and then kissed her forehead. "It's only to be expected," she whispered, cradling Lilly in her arms. "You went through a traumatic experience, and you aren't going to recover from that immediately. It's going to take time, and I understand that. But I'm going to help you through it, and so is everyone here while we're visiting, and Oliver and my dad at home. We'll take his one step at a time."

"I feel like I owe you so much," Lilly whispered.

"No, you don't," Miley said, pulling back so Lilly had to look at her. "Listen to me, Lilly, we're best friends. Just because we're dating doesn't mean that that has to change. You're the person I trust the most and I hope that you trust me the same way. I'd do this for you if we hadn't seen each other for years, and I'm sure you'd do the same for me."

Lilly kissed Miley softly on the cheek and Miley blushed. "Aw, you still blush when I kiss you," Lilly joked. Her expression grew more serious. "But thank you for everything you've done for me. I can't tell you how much I love you."

"I love you, too," Miley whispered, comfortingly rubbing Lilly's shoulder. "Now how about we both get ready for bed and try to sleep. I don't know if my grandma is going to wake us up early tomorrow and I don't want you to be tired all day because I kept you up. Come on, we can snuggle once we get into bed."

They both quickly changed and went across the hall to the bathroom to brush their teeth. Lilly climbed into the bed first, Miley following her, pulling the covers over them and wrapping her arms around Lilly's waist. She softly sang in the Lilly's ear until they both fell asleep.

_**Okay, I'm sorry, no excuses for not updating, just reasons. I was busy. I should have kept up with this story. I apologize. You're all freaking amazing, though, because you're still following my story and I love you all. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter: AshleyAlien1408, Truscott, and JustAnotherSlowGoodbye. You guys are amazing, as is everyone else who has ever reviewed my stories. I promise that I'll be working on the next chapter, but I can't give you the exact date of when I'm going to post it. Once again, thank you all, and REVIEW!!! :)**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_

10


	14. Chapter Thirteen: Surprising

_**Here's the next chapter! Enjoy!**_

Lilly's eyes fluttered open as light streamed in the window, hitting her right in the face. She moaned, flinging an arm over her head as she turned over. There was another moan and she opened her eyes to see that she had accidently hit Miley in the face. The brunette's eyes opened and she glared at Lilly, pulling the covers off of her and leaving her shivering in the cold morning air.

"Hey, give those back!" Lilly whispered.

"That's what you get for hitting me in the face and waking me up this early in the morning," Miley said, her words muffled by the blankets.

"Well, it isn't my fault that_ someone_ forgot to pull the shades down last night," Lilly said, pulling some of the covers off Miley and back over herself. "If that hadn't happened, then I wouldn't have woken up, which would have resulted in you not waking up. So, technically, it's _your_ fault."

"Oh, it's my fault is it?" Miley asked, pulling Lilly close and kissing her temple. "Well, then I'm just going to have to make that up to you, aren't I?"

"And how are you going to do that?" Lilly asked.

"Well, my grandma was telling me about this bonfire party Friday night, and I was wondering if a certain blonde wanted to go with me," Miley said.

"Maybe," Lilly said elusively. "As long as there's food."

"I can guarantee that there will be food," Miley said.

"I'll consider," Lilly said playfully, then she pushed Miley off the bed, taking all the covers and wrapping herself up in them. There was a loud bump as Miley hit the floor and Lilly rolled over to the other side to make sure that the brunette hadn't been hurt. "Are you okay?"

Miley looked up at her, a pout on her face as she sat up and crossed her arms over her chest. "I can't believe you just did that," she said. "Now I'm going to have to go down to breakfast without you."

"Awww, come on, you know I didn't mean it," Lilly said, sticking her lip out and untangling herself from the covers. She crawled down off the bed and sat down in front of Miley. "Please don't leave me up here all by myself."

"Fine," Miley relented, smiling slightly. "But really, do you want to go to that bonfire Friday night? You don't have to if you don't want to. I mean, I would like to go so I can introduce you to all my friends, but if you really don't want…"

"Of course I'll go," Lilly said. "Now come on, I'm hungry, and I think I smell breakfast." She stood up, reaching down and helping Miley stand up afterwards. Miley grabbed two hoodies from the dresser, tossing one to Lilly and putting one on herself before she took Lilly's hand in her own and led her out of the room and down to the kitchen.

"Good morning, sleepyheads," Miley's grandma said as they walked into the kitchen. "Did you sleep well last night?"

"Yeah," Lilly said, sitting down in the chair Miley offered.

"That's good," Miley's grandma said. "Miley, honey, the family is coming in this afternoon for a little while. I just wanted to make sure that you knew. And Lilly, dear, I was wondering if you would help me in the kitchen today. I know that it's your first day here and you're excited to explore and all, but I have to cook a big dinner because my family is filled with pigs and they're going to eat me out of house and home if I don't cook something for them."

"Of course," Lilly said. "What's Miley going to do?"

"I'm going to let her have some fun this morning and take the horses out for a run," Miley's grandma said, smiling slightly as Miley cheered silently. "That'll probably take all morning, so you two won't be together all day. I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay," Miley said, smiling reassuringly at Lilly. "Will I be able to introduce Lilly to the family as my girlfriend or do you think that that wouldn't be the wisest choice right now?"

Miley's grandma looked thoughtful as she set two plates full of food down on the table in front of Lilly and Miley. "I think that should be alright," she said slowly. "I mean, yes, there will be some people who object, but if they say anything that can be taken as insulting, I'll pull them aside and have a word with them. I don't want the two of you to have to hide your relationship around your own family. That would be just disgraceful."

"Good morning, Grandma." Lilly turned to see Luanne walk into the kitchen, already dressed in jeans and a t-shirt and straw sticking out of her hair every which way. Miley just rolled her eyes and started eating her breakfast, motioning for Lilly to do the same. "Do you want me to help with breakfast or would it be alright if I just go ahead and eat and get to work out in pastures?"

"What are you doing this morning?" Miley's grandma asked, handing Luanne a plate heaping full of eggs, bacon, toast, and fruit.

"Well, Ted mentioned yesterday that some of the fences are broken in the far pasture, so I was gonna ride out there with Spot and fix them up before we move the cows out there tomorrow," Luanne said, sitting down across from Miley and starting to eat her breakfast. "It can always late until later today, but the family's coming in this afternoon and I don't know if you want me here to help out or out in the pastures."

"You can go ahead and eat your breakfast and get out there to fix the fences," Miley's grandma said. "I don't want anyone asking where you are and finding out that the fences needed fixed because I don't want some of those sons of mine insisting that they know how to do it, doing in the wrong way, then the cows getting out. Rounding up those animals is not the most fun in the world."

"M'kay," Luanne said through a mouthful of food. "Should I bring a lunch or do you want me to come back in?"

"Go ahead and bring a lunch out with you, then you can come back in if your finished by noon," Miley's grandma said, starting to bustle around the kitchen and gathering items of food for Luanne. "Take a whistle just in case you need help and remember to be careful. If you see anything dangerous, drop what you're doing and come right in. I don't want anyone getting hurt."

"Thanks Grandma," Luanne said, getting up and putting her dishes in the sink. "I should be back by two o'clock and if I'm not back by then, you can just send someone out to bring me in cause chances are that if I'm not done by then, it's a bigger job than I reckoned it would be." She grabbed the food her grandma had laid out for her and headed out of the kitchen. Miley made a face as they heard the front door open and close.

"You don't have to be so mean to her," Miley's grandma said.

"She pushed me down a well when I was ten," Miley said.

"Then she ran for help," Miley's grandma said as if that made everything fine.

"I still broke my leg," Miley grumbled as she served herself more toast and bacon. "I don't think it's fair that she didn't get into any trouble and I was on crutches for three months. She should have been at least talked to."

"And she was, trust me, if your uncle didn't talk to her about it, then I did," her grandma said sternly. "Now I really wish that you would let that go. You're seventeen years old, you should be mature enough that you aren't holding on to grudges that are seven years old. I mean, really, Miley, it was a long time ago."

"It really was," Lilly said quietly, and Miley glared at her.

"Well, I see how this is," Miley said angrily, standing up abruptly. "You two are going to side with her. Soon enough, Lilly, you're going to break up with me so you can start going out with Luanne. Now I know why you came here with me." She stalked out of the room and Lilly winced as the door slammed, standing up to go after her. Miley's grandma held her back.

"Just let her cool off," she said gently. "She'll come to her senses after she takes a few of the horses out for their run. She's just grumpy because she woke up early this morning and because of the time difference."

"Wait, she woke up early?" Lilly asked, confused.

"You don't remember?" Miley's grandma asked, raising her eyebrows. "Around four o'clock this morning, you woke up screaming and yelling. I thought that someone had gotten into the house and was attacking you or something. But Miley just calmed you down and sung you back to sleep. After an hour or so, she came down here and told me that she couldn't sleep because she was afraid you would wake up again or have a nightmare or something. Don't pay any attention to what she just said, she's just afraid that she isn't good enough for you and that she'll lose you."

"But that's stupid!" Lilly exclaimed.

"I know, it's an irrational fear, especially after I've seen how you two interact, but don't you have fears?" Miley's grandma asked gently. "What you need to do is tell her that you know that she's afraid that she'll lose you, reassure her that you won't leave her, and just take this one step at a time with her, the same as she does with you and your fears."

"Where is she?" Lilly asked. "She isn't going to do anything stupid, is she?"

"What do you mean?" Miley's grandma asked.

"Like, when I was upset…that was when I threw myself of the bridge in Malibu. I don't want her to do something stupid and throw herself off a cliff or something. I can't go through this without her," Lilly said, starting to cry.

"She'll be fine, she'll just run off her anger," Miley's grandma said. "If it'll make you feel better, I'll send Aislinn after her to make sure that she doesn't do anything she shouldn't be doing, okay?"

"That'd be great," Lilly whispered, sitting back down and wiping her eyes on her sleeve. "I…I just wish that I could talk to her."

"I know, but that wouldn't be the best idea right now," Miley's grandma said, sitting down next to her and putting an arm around her shoulders. "You might be able to calm her down a lot better than anyone else, but she's still very angry right now and she's going to say things that will hurt you and, once she remembers, things that will ultimately hurt her. I know that you would never want to put her in a situation where she would unwittingly hurt herself. I'm not just thinking about the wellbeing of my granddaughter, but of my future granddaughter."

"Future granddaughter?" Lilly sniffled.

"You," Miley's grandma said gently, smiling slightly and wiping a tear away with the tip of a finger. "I have no doubt that the two of you love each other more than some couples who have been married for twenty years love each other. I think that the years you've spent as best friends has greatly improved the chances of your relationship succeeding. Now why don't we busy ourselves so we don't focus on this. You can tell me all about you."

"Okay," Lilly said, standing up. After they cleared everything up from breakfast, Miley's grandma instructed her on her particular way of peeling potatoes and set her to peeling around one hundred potatoes.

"We have a big family full of pigs," Miley's grandma explained when she told her exactly how many potatoes she was going to be peeling.

By the time lunch rolled around, they had gotten everything in the oven that needed to be cooked and almost everything was prepared and in the fridge that didn't need to be cooked. Lilly sat down wearily, wiping her hands on her pants and taking a sip from her glass of water on the table.

"Why don't you take a break?" Miley's grandma, or Ruthie as she insisted Lilly calling her, asked. She held out a basket to Lilly. "Here, I made a lunch for two. Do you remember your way out to the barn? Miley should be calmed down now and is probably cooling down one of the horses in the corral. Go ahead and take this to her and try to work things out. If she threatens not to eat, tell her that I put some cookies in there."

"But why…?" Lilly asked.

"Just go," Ruthie said with a small smile, pushing Lilly gently towards the door.

Lilly slipped her shoes on and headed outside towards the barn where she could see someone riding a horse around in the corral in front of the barn. As she got closer, Lilly could tell that it was Miley because the rider wasn't wearing a helmet and long, brown hair was streaming out behind her. She set the basket she was holding down on the ground and leaned against the fence, watching in admiration as Miley commanded the powerful horse beneath her to do what she wanted.

Suddenly Miley caught sight of Lilly and the horse, sensing that she wasn't completely focused on what she was doing, threw her off. Lilly screamed as Miley hit the ground, starting to climb up the fence, but someone pulled her down. She turned to see Luanne climb over the fence and run towards the horse. When she got about ten feet away, she started to speak in a soft, soothing tone, calming the horse down and taking the reins. She led it to the opposite side of the corral, tying it to the fence so it wouldn't spook and run all over.

Lilly was already over the fence when Luanne started to tie the horse to the fence. She ran to Miley's side, tears streaming down her face as she tried to determine whether or not the brunette was going to be okay. Miley groaned, starting to sit up, but suddenly Luanne was there, pushing her back down on the ground.

"Don't move," she said seriously. "Now, I know you don't like me, but if you're seriously hurt, then you shouldn't be moving around very much, okay? Lilly, please, believe me when I say that she can't move at all. I'm going to go get Aislinn, she can help more than I can. Lilly, make sure she doesn't move while I'm gone, and whatever happens, make sure she doesn't go to sleep."

"Why would I want to go to sleep?" Miley asked in an irritated voice, trying to sit up again.

Luanne pushed her back down. "Please, Miley, as a favor to Lilly?"

"Fine," she grumbled, and Luanne stood up, running towards the fence and climbing over it quickly before running towards the house.

"Are you okay?" Lilly whispered, gently moving a lock of hair out of Miley's face. "This is all my fault. If I hadn't come here then you wouldn't have been distracted and your horse wouldn't have thrown you off."

"No, this isn't your fault, and don't you even start to think that," Miley said, starting to sit up. Lilly went to keep her down, but Miley just pushed her arm away and pulled the blonde into a hug. "I'm going to be fine, Luanne is just overreacting, and this is in no way your fault."

"What's going on?"

Both girls turned to see Aislinn and Luanne climbing over the fence and running towards them.

"Why wasn't the horse put in its stall?" Aislinn asked, kneeling next to Miley. "Luanne, go do that right now. You know that it's dangerous to leave a spooked horse in a corral with an injured person, no matter how uninjured she pretends to be. Now, Miley, honestly tell me how you're feeling."

"I'm fine," Miley insisted. She winced as Aislinn gently pressed her fingertips against the back of her head and lightly traced her fingers up her back.

"Just what I thought," Aislinn said with a grim look on her face. "You probably have a very small concussion and some minor bruising. It shouldn't keep you from doing day to day activities, but you should be careful today. No more riding, for sure, and I would try to rest as much as possible. Lilly, keep an eye on her to make sure she isn't doing anything that she isn't supposed to."

"You said that you were fine," Lilly said accusingly.

"Hey, Lilly, it's not her fault," Aislinn said quickly. "Miley has very high pain tolerance. What hurts most people, she'll barely feel. The only reason she felt that when I touched the back of her head was because it was an actual concussion, not a bad one, mind you, but a concussion all the same. Just make sure that she doesn't jump right back up on the horse right away. And next time, wear a helmet, Miley. It's a lot safer that way."

"It's no fun," Miley grumbled as Aislinn and Lilly helped her stand up. "You can't feel the wind in your hair and it's not as free."

"Well, do you remember what happened when you decided to ride Blue Jeans without a saddle or bridle?" Aislinn asked, making Miley look away in embarrassment. "You insisted that it was the way people were supposed to ride horses because that's how the Indians rode them, then you slipped off and Jeans kicked you in the arm, breaking it clean in two. You weren't allowed to ride for two months."

"That's different," Miley mumbled.

"No it isn't, and you know it," Aislinn said, heading towards the gate. "Everyone is going to start arriving around two or three o'clock, so I recommend that you two get your time together in now before they get here. It looks like Grandma packed you two a basket of food, so go ahead and have some alone time now before it gets too crowded to even have a reasonable amount of personal space."

Miley laughed, catching hands with Lilly as they made their way out of the corral and towards the place where Lilly had left the picnic basket Miley's grandmother had prepared for them. "She's just mad because last year, one of our cousins friends came and was hitting on her for a week straight," she said, leaning down to pick up the basket. Lilly saw a look of pain flash across her face and quickly stooped to pick it up herself. Miley glared at her.

"Look, Miley, I…we need to talk," Lilly said seriously. "Do you know where we can go so we won't be interrupted even if your family comes early and comes looking for us?"

The brunette looked thoughtful. "Yeah, I know just the place," she said, pulling on Lilly's hand as she headed towards the barn. She climbed up a ladder leading to the loft, motioning for Lilly to wait at the bottom, and threw down a rope when she disappeared at the top. "Here, tie that around the handles of the basket so I can pull it up. I don't want you falling because you're trying to climb and not spill the basket at the same time."

Lilly did as Miley instructed and climbed up the ladder as Miley slowly pulled the basket up. When Lilly got up, Miley started to pull the ladder up, laying it flat on the floor so no one would be able to climb up to get them. She grabbed the basket and stood up, indicating that Lilly should follow her.

"This is amazing," Lilly whispered as Miley led her around a stack of hay bales to a small area that was secluded and private, completely cut away from the rest of the loft. Miley pulled out a blanket and set it out, starting to unpack the food.

"No, Miley, we should talk before we eat," Lilly said, resting a hand gently on top of Miley's. "I don't think it would be good if we started throwing food at each other or anything."

"Okay," Miley said, slowly retracting her hand. "What did you want to talk about?"

"You freaking out this morning," Lilly said carefully.

Miley looked away. "What did you want to talk about?" she whispered.

"Why did you react like that?" she asked. "I mean, you completely freaked out at me and told me that I was going to break up with you and start dating Luanne, and you know that that isn't going to happen."

"It's just…you're amazing, Lilly, and I…I'm afraid that I'm not good enough for you," Miley whispered. "I mean…I'm afraid that one day you're going to say that I can't do much for you and that you're going to find someone who can and you're just going to leave me for him…or her. And I don't think I would be able to do that. Sure, I'd still be your best friend and be there for you no matter what happens, but…I love you, Lilly, and I don't think I would be able to really live if I wasn't with you. I would just survive."

"Where would you ever get the idea that I would want to leave you?" Lilly asked softly. "I mean, I think there's more of a chance of _you_ leaving _me_ because I have so many problems…"

"But that doesn't matter!" Miley exclaimed. "Lilly, you…you're perfect. Everything that I'm not. You're smart and athletic and talented. Every single guy in the school wants to date you, and I'm sure that more than a few girls would drop their boyfriends to go out with you. You could have anyone in the school, and you chose _me_. I don't even know why, I mean, I was the one who had a crush on you, not the other way around. And you accepted me for who I am and now you're going out with me. I don't deserve half the things you do for me."

"And you don't think that those things are true for you?" Lilly asked. "I mean, really, Miley, don't try to fool yourself. You're the most gorgeous girl in the school, and you know it. And you're freaking Hannah Montana! Don't tell me that you aren't talented and that I'm better than you. I would never, ever leave you, Miley, because you're the only person who's really cared about me. Yeah, there's Oliver, but then again, he's _Oliver_."

"You already dated him," Miley mumbled, looking away.

"Is that what this is about?" Lilly asked. "Oliver? You know that we're just friends, right?"

"I'm just afraid that you'll leave me," Miley whispered, looking at her with tears in her eyes. "I love you so much. I don't think I could live without you."

"And I could never live without you, either, so we have that problem solved, don't we?" Lilly asked gently, reaching out her hand to lace Miley's fingers together with her own. "Are we okay, now? Is there anything else we need to talk about right now?"

"Yeah, um, that Hannah Montana article," Miley said quietly.

"Miley, I…" Lilly started, thinking that she was going to start talking about Hannah Montana business.

"No, Lilly, I'm not talking about Hannah, really. Well, sort of, but not really. I wanted to ask your permission to reveal that Hannah is in a romantic relationship with Lola," she said seriously, pulling Lilly closer to her. "You see, I don't think it's good to hide our relationship on any level, especially if we were caught kissing. People are going to be looking for the two of us acting as more than best friends and it's going to be difficult to hide the fact that we love each other. Besides, I don't want to have to hide our relationship like that."

"Did you even have to ask me?" Lilly asked, kissing Miley gently.

"I just wanted to double check," Miley whispered. "And there's…something else." She paused and Lilly looked at her suspiciously. "It's not bad," she said quickly. "It's just…listen with an open mind, and you can think this over if you want to. I'm not going to do anything without making sure that it's okay with you, Oliver, my family here, and my dad."

"What is it?" Lilly asked curiously.

"You see, I've been thinking recently and I want to end Hannah Montana's career," Miley said, making Lilly's eyes go wide. "Wait for it, Lilly, that isn't it. I wanted to…to reveal that I'm Hannah Montana and start my own career as a singer. I feel like I'm hiding part of my life both as Hannah and Miley and I don't want that to happen anymore. And I don't want you to go through anything more than you have to, either, with everything that's happening."

Lilly was gaping at her, her mouth hanging open loosely and her eyes wide. After a couple seconds, her mouth opened and closed several times, although no sound came. Finally, she got her voice back. "I…it…what? But, I thought…isn't that why there's a famous Hannah Montana instead of a famous Miley Stewart? So you could live two lives? I mean, I thought that that was what you wanted."

"Yeah, it was," Miley said quietly. "Before, I didn't know that I would have to split up my life like this. I mean, my agent was trying to get me to do a few concerts in the area while I'm here and I had to threaten to call off my goodbye tour this summer in order to get her to shut up…"

"Goodbye tour?" Lilly asked, eyes widening even more, if that was even possible.

"The details still need to be worked out, but I know that I'm going abroad for the summer," Miley said. "I was actually going to ask you if you wanted to come with me earlier, but this vacation sort of got in the way, you know? It's going to be three months long and all I know about the concert locations is that the last concert is going to be in New York City. I want to end somewhere away from home because I think security might be a little lax and I don't want anyone following me home."

"Yeah, I understand," Lilly said.

"But anyways, I didn't know that my life would be so hectic," Miley said. "Sometimes I come in at two o'clock in the morning and I still have to do homework. It would be so much easier for me to just me Miley and not have to worry about keeping my identity a secret all the time. It would save tons of time getting ready and going to the concert because I wouldn't have to change limos about five times just to get there."

"Why does this concern me?" Lilly asked.

"Because everyone at school knows that you're my girlfriend and once everyone found out that I'm Hannah Montana, they would most likely realize that you're Lola Luftnagle," Miley said. "Plus, you'd get swarmed for being Miley Stewart and Hannah Montana's girlfriend. You probably wouldn't be able to go out in public without someone recognizing you."

"Oh, yeah, there'd be that," Lilly whispered, looking down at her lap. "I don't know, Miley. I mean, I'm pregnant. It's bad enough that the whole school is going to know that I'm pregnant, let alone millions and millions of people around the world. I don't really want my whole life broadcasted. Just…let me think about it."

"Of course," Miley said gently. "I completely understand. I would never, ever make this decision without your approval. And I still have to talk to everyone else, too. I just want you to know that."

"Thank you for asking me," Lilly said, snuggling into Miley. They stayed like that for a moment, Miley's arms wrapped around Lilly's waste, her cheek resting on the top of her head and Lilly leaning into Miley.

"Hey, can we eat now?"

Miley just laughed.

_**Funny story. I was looking through some stories on fanfiction and I came across a story that I thought looked really interesting. Clicking on the title, I started to read it and then I realized that it was my own story! Wow, sometimes I really do wonder how I even tie my shoes. :) Well, anyways…I hope you liked the chapter and I'll get the next one up as soon as possible. And I have to say, when I see that people REVIEW, I tend to want to update faster. While we're on the subject of reviews, thank you to AshleyAlien1408. YOU ARE MY HERO!!! THANK YOU FOR REVIEWING!!! If I could, I'd give you a million dollars, but considering that I am currently short on cash, I can't do anything about that. Thank you once again!!!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_

10


	15. Chapter Fourteen: Reactions

_**Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!!!**_

"Looks like people are arriving," Miley said, looking out the window towards the house just as a car pulled into the long driveway. Lilly peered over her shoulder, watching as a couple opened the back doors of the car to let three small children tumble out of the back seat, laughing and screaming. "Grandma'll kill me if we aren't down there pretty soon."

"Are those your cousins?" Lilly asked softly, staring after the small children.

"Yeah," Miley said, smiling slightly. "Joey, Lizzie, and Carrie. They're all cute and funny. Triplets. They're always full of energy when they get here, and then when they finally run out, they just fall asleep where they're standing. I think they're four this year, so they'll be excited because they think they're big kids."

Lilly watched as the couple, Miley's aunt and uncle, herded the triplets into the house, shutting the door behind them. "Do you…do you think that my baby will be like that?" she asked quietly.

Miley slid up next to Lilly, putting one arm around her waist and settling her hand on her stomach. "Hey, I'm sure that the baby will be the cutest little girl there ever is to be born," she whispered. "And if you get uncomfortable at any time with my family, all you need to do is tell me, my grandma, or Aislinn and I'll either take you up to our room or Aislinn or my grandma will come and get me, okay?"

"Okay," Lilly whispered, looking down at her lap where she was twisting her hands nervously. "Do you think that you're family will like me? I mean, after they find out that we're dating? They won't get mad or damn us to hell or anything, will they?"

"They'd better not," Miley said darkly. "If they say even one word against you, they're gonna have me to reckon with, and then they're going to have to deal with Grandma, and she's not going to be too happy about people insulting her favorite granddaughter and her girlfriend."

"Isn't every one of her granddaughters her favorite?" Lilly asked, amused as Miley looked at her with an appalled expression on her face. "Come on, let's go before your grandma decides to come out here and look for us."

They let the ladder down and climbed to the floor of the barn. Lilly reached out for Miley's hands, lacing their fingers together, and they set out towards the house. When they got to the front door, there were several more cars parked in the driveway and a truck was driving slowly towards the house. Miley grinned and waved to the man driving, who grinned back at her and honked his horn. She just shook her head and opened the front door for Lilly, following her inside.

The house was already crowded, kids of all ages running around and their parents lounging around on the couches and chairs, talking loudly to each other. Miley grabbed Lilly's hand, pulling her through the crowd to the kitchen where Ruthie was pulling something out of the oven and three women were sitting at the table in deep conversation. They were quiet when Miley and Lilly walked into the room and there was an awkward silence.

"Were ya'll talking bout me again?" Miley asked in a thick Tennessee accent.

"Hey, hey, it's Miley Rae," one of the women said, standing up and pulling her into a hug. "We've missed you! When are ya'll movin' back here? There're some pretty nice ranches for sale."

"You know that isn't an option," Miley said, dropping out of the thick accent.

"Is your father here?" the woman asked.

"No, he and Jackson are at home. Well, Dad's at home, Jackson's at college. He finally moved out, thank God," Miley said, making everyone laugh. "I thought he'd never leave. Now it's just me, my dad, and Lilly." The laughing stopped.

"Your dad has a girlfriend now?" one of the women at the table asked.

"Oh, no, no, no, this is Lilly here," Miley said, laughing slightly as she pulled Lilly forward to be examined by the three women. The blonde could see Ruthie out of the corner of her eye, watching them carefully and knew that if the women said anything, she would at least have Miley's grandma on her side.

"I didn't know you were allowed to bring friends to the family reunions," the first woman said slowly. "Else I would have brought Mary. You know she's been begging to meet my whole family. But I thought it was just family and partners."

Lilly looked at Miley worriedly, who only smiled at her and wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her close. "Aunt Trish, Lilly's my partner," she said, kissing her lightly on the temple. "We've been dating for about a month now and we've been best friends for three and a half years."

"Is this a joke?" the woman who was Aunt Trish asked.

"No, these two girls love one another," Ruthie said, cutting in. She came up behind Miley and Lilly and put her arms around them. "And I support them wholeheartedly. I've seen what Lilly's done for our Miley Rae and I would never want my granddaughter to be unhappy because someone doesn't approve of her relationship." She glared pointedly at all three women and they all looked away.

"Well, that's good for you," Aunt Trish said uneasily.

"Here, I'll introduce ya'll," Miley said. "Guys, this is Lilly, Lilly, this is Aunt Trish," she pointed to the woman who had stood up to hug her, "Aunt Mabel," the woman sitting down with long, blonde hair and thin lips, "and Aunt Cass," the only aunt who looked genuinely happy for Miley.

"Nice to meet you," Lilly said quietly, staring down at her feet as her cheeks flushed in embarrassment.

"Hey, don't be shy now," Aunt Cass said, standing up and pulling both Miley and Lilly into a big hug. "These humbugs love you no matter what, and I love you even more because of this. And Miss Miley, how many times have I told you that the right person for you has been right under your nose all this time."

"You were talking about Alex," Miley said, crossing her hands over her chest.

"Is he here?" Aunt Cass asked, her eyes lighting up. "I was thinking Jennifer might like him now that you've found someone…" She bustled off into the next room, muttering to herself, and Miley looked after her with an amused expression on her face.

"Grandma, do you need any help getting the rest of dinner ready?" Miley asked. "Me and Lilly would be more than happy to help."

"No, you go ahead and introduce Lilly to everyone," Ruthie said, wiping her hands on her apron and going back to the stove. "And if anyone gives you any trouble, just come tell me and I'll take care of it. So help me God, I won't have anyone insulting you two in my house. I don't care what their pastors say and whatnot, what I say goes, and that's how it's gonna stay."

Miley pulled Lilly into the next room, a smile forming on her lips. Lilly hesitantly gave in to Miley's pull and followed her into the room, the dining room, where the men had set up a game of cards. The blonde couldn't recognize the game, but Miley immediately gravitated toward the table, pulling Lilly with her. One of the men quickly won, grinning as one and five dollar bills were handed over to him along with a cacophony of groans.

"Hey, it's Miss Miley!" one of the men exclaimed, standing up and pulling Miley into a big hug. "How've you been doing? I haven't seen you since what, June? And who do you have here with you? Don't let my wife see her or she'll give you trouble. Only God knows how long she's been complaining about how much she wants to bring Mary to one of our family gatherings. She was moaning all the way here, and it's a three hour drive. If she sees your friend here, she'll be moaning for the whole ride back, too."

"Uncle Rick, this is Lilly," Miley said, and he held out his hand, shaking Lilly's hand once before letting go. "Lilly, this is my Uncle Rick and he's married to Aunt Trish. I'll introduce you to their kids later. This is Uncle Ted, he's married to Aunt Mabel, Uncle Sean, he's married to Aunt Thalia, you haven't met her yet, and this is Uncle Josh, and he's married to Aunt Cass."

Lilly gave everyone a wave and they all murmured their hellos, already focused on the next card game. Miley smiled down at her and put an arm around her waist, pulling her close.

"Guys, I wanted to announce something," Miley said loudly, drawing the men's attention to her again. "Lilly and I…we're dating. We've been dating for about a month now and we're really happy with each other. And I would really appreciate it if you accepted Lilly like she was family, 'cause she's going to be around for a while now."

For a moment, the men just stared at them. One of them, Ted, got up from the table and left the room, throwing his hand down on the table in front of him. Identical grins spread over Miley's Uncle Josh and Uncle Rick's faces as they stood up, shouting their congratulations and clapping Miley on the back.

"She's a good catch," Rick said, grinning down at Lilly and giving her a wink. "And you didn't do so bad yourself, Lilly. Our Miley here has a voice on her, if you didn't already know that, and she has to be one of the kindest, sweetest girls to ever walk this earth. Just promise me that you'll try not to hurt her. I wouldn't be able to stand it if I knew that Miley's heart was broken."

"I'll do my best, sir," Lilly said in a small voice.

"You don't have to call me sir," Josh laughed. "Just call me Uncle Josh like Miley here. You're family, now. As soon as you graduate from high school, Miley had better propose to you, and you'd better darn well accept or else you'll have this whole family following you around for the rest of your life."

"O-okay," Lilly stuttered, her eyes wide.

"Stop scaring her," Miley said, stepping in front of Lilly to shield her from her uncle. "Really, Uncle Josh, the first time you meet her and you're already giving her a speech like that. You waited until you met Aislinn's boyfriend for the third time."

"And look where that got her," Josh said.

Lilly could tell by the way Miley stiffened that this was dangerous territory. "You don't understand half of what happened there," she said quietly. "Don't even pretend to understand. You may be my uncle, but I won't hesitate to slap you across the face. Besides, it's kind of hard to get pregnant with two girls, isn't it?"

"True," he said, shrugging his shoulders. "Hey, you two stay out of trouble. I'm going to try to get the guys back in here to play another hand. You're little announcement broke up our game." He gestured to the empty room and Miley smiled sheepishly, gathering Lilly in her arms and kissing the top of her head.

"I just couldn't wait to show my girl off," she said, and Lilly dug her head into the crook of Miley's neck, her face flaming in embarrassment. "I'm going to introduce her to the cousins, now. Or, what cousins are still left in the house. The rest are probably out riding, and I'm banned for the day."

"Did you get bucked off _again_?"

Lilly turned to see a teenage guy leaning against the doorframe leading to the living room, a smirk on his face. Miley stopped smiling and Lilly could tell that she didn't like this kid. She looked at him warily, trying to search for something in his stance or demeanor that would tell her why Miley instantly stiffened at the sound of his voice, or her face immediately grew hard as soon as she saw him.

"What's wrong?" she whispered in Miley's ear, rubbing a comforting hand on her arm, still keeping her eyes on this boy.

"This is Alex," Miley said stiffly.

"Oh, so you aren't going to introduce me to your beautiful friend," Alex said with a grin, stepping forward and taking a hold of Lilly's hand. She shuttered as he brought her hand to his lips, looking at her with an expression that she couldn't identify. He let go of her hand, gently pushing a stray piece of hair out of her face and bringing his mouth to her ear. "I can tell that we're going to be very good friends," he whispered.

"You stay away from her!" Miley growled, pushing him away from Lilly as the blonde closed her eyes, struggling not to relive the memories of her rape. "I don't care if you hit on me or try to get with me, because I know you and I know when it's appropriate to slap you across the face, but if you lay even a single finger on Lilly, I will knock you unconscious, strap you to the back of a wild horse, and then let it go."

"A little protective of your friend, aren't you?" he asked mischievously, unruffled by Miley's shove. "I think she should be able to make the decision for herself. After all, she's just a friend of yours, isn't she?"

Miley lifted him by the collar of his shirt, heaving him up against the wall and shoving her face in his. "Lilly is my girlfriend, and that's the way it's going to stay," she said quietly, dangerously. "If I even suspect that you've even looked at her the wrong way, you're going to regret it. Do you understand?"

"It's clear as a crystal?" he said with a smug smirk, although he avoided looking at Lilly at all. Miley paused for a moment, then, satisfied with his answer, let go of him, stepping back so he could slide to the floor.

"And that's why you don't mess with Miley Stewart when she's mad," someone said.

"Go away," Miley said impatiently, hurrying to Lilly's side. "Honey? Can you hear me? Open your eyes, baby. It's me, Miley. Nod if you can hear me."

Lilly nodded, tears starting to trickle down her cheeks as she leaned into the brunette's open arms. Miley rocked her back and forth, and there were worried whispers around them. The blonde was suddenly aware of at least half a dozen eyes on her and tried to make herself smaller and disappear into Miley.

"Okay, clear a path for them," the clear voice of Aislinn said, and suddenly Miley was ushering away from the room, away from Alex, away from the memories, through the kitchen, up the stairs, and to the seclusion of their bedroom. Miley helped her sit down on the bed then closed the door gently, and Lilly heard the click of the lock, instantly stiffening when she realized that she was trapped in the room.

"What's wrong?" Miley asked immediately.

"Trapped," Lilly whispered, trying to fight back the memories.

"Do you want me to leave the door open?" Miley asked, an expression of worry appearing on her face.

"Just…just leave it unlocked," Lilly whimpered.

The lock clicked open and Lilly instantly relaxed. She felt the bed sag a little as Miley sat down and she flinched away from the brunette's touch, guiltily aware of the hurt flashing across her girlfriend's fac. "I'm sorry," she whispered.

"No, I should be the one apologizing," Miley said quietly. "I should have known that he would be invited and asked Grandma to keep him away from us somehow. And I knew the moment I saw him that he would try something like that, and I didn't even try to prevent it from happening. He's…I hate him. And it isn't just you, everyone feels uncomfortable around him, with the exception of Aunt Cass, and that's because she's practically adopted him from his family. They're all creeps."

Lilly needed to focus on something else besides her reaction to Alex. The rape memories that started to pop into her mind. So she searched for anything that would keep the conversation away from that. "What did he do?" she asked.

Miley took a deep breath and looked away. "He…he got me drunk," she whispered. "Well, not really drunk, but tipsy. And he…he tried to…he started kissing me, and suddenly we were in one of the unused guest rooms, making out on the bed. He tried getting my clothes off, but I hadn't drunk as much as he thought I had and I managed to knock him out and get out of the room before it went any farther."

"You were drinking?" Lilly asked, eyes wide.

"I wasn't at a party," Miley said quickly. "Actually, there aren't really any parties out here, just in Nashville. It was at a family reunion, kind of like this one. Grandma trusts us to drink responsibly, and my dad wasn't here, obviously. Aislinn had lost track of me and I had lost track of how many drinks I had drunk. Let me just say, I haven't touched alcohol since then."

"Why didn't you tell me before?" Lilly asked, hurt.

"It wasn't on purpose," Miley said, shrugging. "To be honest, I try not to think about it. I try not to think about Alex. I would never try to keep anything from you and I'll be completely honest with you about anything you ask me. The only reason I wouldn't tell you something would be because it didn't come up in conversation."

Lilly blushed, looking away. "Sorry," she mumbled.

"Hey, it's fine," Miley said with a small smile. "And I know how much you're trying to avoid this, but…I think you need to talk to someone about what happened down there with Alex. No, you don't have to be a tattle tale or whatever you want to call it, but you should talk to someone. I don't want you holding everything inside. If you don't want to talk to me, there's always Aislinn or my grandma, or you could call Oliver and talk to him."

"I don't think I would be able to talk to anyone but you," Lilly whispered.

"You don't have to do it now," Miley said quickly.

The blonde closed her eyes, struggling to hold back the tears. "I just want to forget what happened," she whispered. "But that's going to be impossible because I'm going to have a baby and every time I look at her, I'll…I'll remember what happened. And I know it's really selfish, but I don't want to have her. I wish she would just go away."

"No, no, you're not selfish," Miley said in a comforting tone. "It's understandable that you would wish that. Anyone in your position would, and many would go to the measures to make sure that their baby wouldn't be born. You haven't done that, and I'm proud of you for it. And I guarantee you that this little girl won't remind you of those men. Once you learn how to cope with the memories, you'll be able to look at her like any other child you might have with…with…"

"You?" Lilly offered.

"Would…would you want to have children?" Miley asked hesitantly. "I mean, with me?"

"Of course," Lilly said, smiling slightly as she gently stroked the smooth skin of Miley's cheek. "You…you're different than those men. They took what they wanted and left me. You give me what I want, no matter what it is, and you never leave me. You love me."

Miley smiled and her eyes sparkled. "I…I don't know what to say," she whispered, getting choked up. "Ever since…ever since I found out that…that I like girls, that I like _you_, I thought that I would never have any hope of having children…because, well, because we're two girls."

"We could always ask Oliver," Lilly said as if that was a perfectly reasonable choice. Miley stared at her, her mouth hanging open and her eyes wide with shock. "I'm joking, I'm joking," Lilly said quickly.

"Thank God, because for a moment there, I was going to say that I would much rather prefer it if we just didn't have kids," Miley said, sighing in relief.

"You thought I was serious?" Lilly asked, slightly amused. "Do you really think I could ever sleep with Oliver? Or that I would force _you_ to? I mean, Miley, really, let's look at this, he's _Oliver_ for crying out loud!"

"I know, I know," Miley said laughing, then she got serious again. "Are you okay, now?" she asked.

Lilly nodded, smiling. "Yeah, I think I'm okay for now," she whispered. "Just…promise that you'll stay with me this whole time. I don't want to be alone, just in case…in case…you know."

"I'll be right by your side the whole time," Miley whispered, pulling Lilly into a hug. "I'll be by your side for the rest of your life."

_**Hope you liked it!!! I'm trying to get some chapters up at least once a week that are a pretty decent length, so I don't think that I'll be able to get another chapter up by the end of Saturday, so count on another update next week. I might get some inspiration for a one-shot, so definitely check my profile for that. And I updated **_**Remembering Miley**_**, as well, so if you haven't checked that out, either, then feel free. Thanks for the reviews from: AshleyAlien1408, Lovergirl242, CaseyBug14. I really appreciate you guys telling me what you think.**_

_**And really, please REVIEW!!!! Tell me what you think about the chapter, even if you didn't like it, especially if you didn't like it. I would like to know if there's anything I could do to improve the story, so feel free to give me some constructive criticism. Thanks for reading my stories!!!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_

8


	16. Chapter Fifteen: Honest

_**Here's the next chapter. Enjoy!!**_

Lilly's eyes fluttered open and she groaned, trying to get into a more comfortable position. There was something sticking in her back and as she wriggled around, she couldn't seem to dislodge it. Sitting up, she realized that she wasn't in a bed, but rather lying in the loft of a barn with Miley by her side, snoring softly. She stretched and looked around behind her to see that the blanket that she had been lying on had shifted so hay had been sticking up into her back.

"Miley," she whispered, placing a hand on the brunette's arm and trying to shake her awake. "Hey, Miley." The brunette just moaned, throwing an arm over her face and turning away from Lilly. "Really, Miley, wake up."

"What?" Miley moaned, squeezing her eyes shut.

"How did we get up here?" Lilly asked.

The brunette sat up and opened her eyes. "Holy crap," she whispered, throwing a blanket off them. Lilly shivered and whimpered, but Miley didn't pay any attention to her. "We shouldn't be up here. I didn't realize it was so late."

"Why can't we be up here?" Lilly asked, still shivering.

"What time is it?" Miley asked, standing up and looking around. It was dark outside and light flickered across the wall from the bonfire outside. Laughs floated up to the loft and Miley sighed in relief. "Good, it isn't too late. I really didn't think that we would fall asleep."

"I don't get it, why can't we be up here?" Lilly asked, also standing up and stretching.

"It's a hazard, according to my grandma," Miley said, moving towards the ladder leading down to the barn floor. "If the barn catches on fire, the hayloft is the first thing that will go up in flames and it'd be extremely difficult for us to get out of the barn without being seriously injured or killed. And she says that it's more likely that the barn would catch on fire when there're a whole bunch of drunk people around when it's dark out rather than in the middle of the day when everyone is either sober or still in bed because they're sleeping off their hangovers."

She started down the ladder, motioning for Lilly to follow her. At the bottom of the ladder, Miley clasped hands with her and pulled her out of the barn towards the bonfire. They stopped five feet away from it, listening to the drunken laughter and the slurred words.

"Let's go into the house, that's where everyone who isn't drunk will be," Miley whispered, leading her away from the bonfire and towards the house. The path was lit by lanterns that Ruthie had one of Miley's cousins set out so everyone who was drunk wouldn't wander off the path and get lost. Miley told Lilly that it had happened before and that her grandma didn't want to take any chances this time.

Miley and Lilly walked into the house, Lilly still shivering from the cold outside. The brunette wrapped her arms around her, pulling her close. "Do you want to go up to our room and go to sleep or do you want to stay down here with everyone else?" she whispered as she rubbed Lilly's bare arms, trying to warm her up.

"Could I get something warmer on?" the blonde asked, leaning into Miley.

"Here's a blanket," Miley said quietly, grabbing a fleece blanket from the chair in the entrance hall and wrapping it around Lilly's shoulders. "Is that better?" Lilly nodded and Miley just held her. "You're tired, we should go to bed."

"No, you should stay down here with your family," Lilly muttered, trying to keep from falling asleep on Miley's shoulder. "Don't let me keep you from seeing them. You don't get to be around them that often."

"Are you sure?" Miley asked uncertainly.

Lilly lifted her head and kissed Miley on the corner of her mouth. "Of course I'm sure," she whispered. "You have the rest of your life to spend with me. Your family isn't so lucky. Go ahead and have fun, I'll be fine, I promise."

"If you're positive…" Miley said, hesitantly.

"Go ahead," Lilly said, kissing her softly before heading towards the stairs. She climbed halfway up before she felt Miley wrap her arms around her waist, kissing her neck gently. Leaning into her touch, she closed her eyes.

"You thought you were getting away without saying goodnight, didn't you?" Miley whispered in her ear. She turned Lilly around and kissed her, making her moan. "I'll be up in a couple hours. I love you."

"I love you, too," Lilly whispered before turning back around and heading up the stairs. She opened the door to their bedroom and closed it behind her, turning just as someone stepped in front of her. A hand clapped over her mouth as another hand gripped her arm tightly.

"Don't move," a gravelly voice muttered in her ear. "Or I'm going to make this a whole lot worse."

She whimpered as the person dragged her away from the door and towards the bed, throwing her down. Opening her mouth to scream, a hand clapped down over it again and a familiar face appeared in front of her. Alex. The face morphed and suddenly she was staring up into the face of one of the men who had raped her. Then it morphed again, into the face of another of the men. And then she was staring into the face of her father. She froze up, unable to move, as tears started to leak down her face.

"Don't scream," he whispered in her ear. He slowly lifted his hand from her mouth, and when he realized that she wouldn't, he lifted it away entirely. "If you do anything that doesn't please me, I'm going to make you regret it. I could always tie you up in here and go get Miley. And I don't think she would resist when she found out that I have you up here."

"Please, don't…don't touch Miley," she whispered, tears streaming down her face. "I'll…I'll do anything. Just…just don't hurt her."

"That's what I want to hear," Alex said approvingly, running his hands over her clothed sides. His hands stopped at the edge of her shirt, slipping underneath and sliding up her stomach towards her chest. Lilly squeezed her eyes shut, trying to imagine that it wasn't Alex doing this, but Miley.

_Miley, Miley, Miley,_ she chanted over and over in her head._ Please, I need you, Miley. Help me. Miley, Miley, Miley._

She almost didn't notice when Alex pulled her shirt off roughly, needing her flesh with his hands. But the sensation was still there, and she knew that it was someone else, someone who didn't love her. A sob escaped her mouth and a hand slapped her across the face. She was sure that there was going to be a mark there.

"I said not to make a sound," Alex growled in her ear. She nodded and struggled to hold back her whimper, reaching her hand up to wipe the tears from her face. A few minutes passed before he was satisfied that she wouldn't make another sound and then continued.

Her jeans were being unbuttoned and unzipped and then were sliding off her hips, down her legs, wrapping around her ankles, and then they were gone. Cold hair hit her skin and goose bumps broke out all the way up her legs. He was biting her skin roughly, making his way lower and lower and lower…

Then there was the sound of another zipper being undone, the sound of jeans sliding against skin, and then he was on top of her again. She squeezed her eyes shut even tighter, wishing it all away. Suddenly the door banged open and Lilly opened her eyes and turned her head to see Miley standing in the doorway. She started crying with relief.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!"Miley yelled, stepping quickly towards the bed, an expression of anger on her face. Alex still had his t-shirt on and the brunette grabbed the collar, pulling him off Lilly and throwing him against the wall with surprising strength. "You're going to regret this!"

Lilly pulled the blankets up around herself, watching as Alex stood up on shaking legs and Miley punched his square in the face. There was a crack and blood started running out of his nose. There was a pounding of feet on stairs and suddenly the door was crowded with people, their mouths gaping open as they watched Miley punch, kick, and slap Alex as hard as she could. Finally, someone, Aislinn, stepped forward, pulling Miley away from Alex, pinning her arms to her sides and trying to calm her down. Someone else was rushing forward to help Alex.

"Let go of me!" Miley yelled, straining to get free from Aislinn. Someone else, one of Miley's cousin, stepped forward to help restrain her. "He deserves this! I want to beat him until he's dead! He hurt my Lilly! He hurt her! My…my…my Lilly…" she trailed off, starting to sob and collapsing against Aislinn. "He hurt my Lilly."

People were helping Alex to his feet, and as he passed the bed, he looked over at Lilly and smirked at her. Even when he was in bad shape, when he had almost taken Lilly, he still retained his disgusting mind. Lilly shuttered, collapsing in on herself and starting to cry, to really cry. Someone sat down on the bed next to her and she waited for the touch that was sure to come, the touch that she would shutter at, that would throw her back into her memories, but it never came.

Instead, the memories came by themselves, the faces hovering in front of her, their mouths opening as they laughed, teased her, and taunted her. She buried her head in her arms, trying to block the sound out, but it didn't go away.

Then someone's arms wrapped around her, making her feel safe, protected, and the memories disappeared. She stopped crying, but kept her eyes closed. Now she was being lifted, the blanket still wrapped around her, and carried into another room. She was being set down on another bed and the arms disappeared. There were no longer any voices, she was alone.

Lilly lifted her head, and sure enough, she was in a small room on a double bed. The door had been left slightly and she silently thanked whoever had taken her in here for considering that she might not want to be left in a small, enclosed space. But she didn't want to be by herself. Wrapping the blanket more tightly around her shoulders, she got up from the bed and walked slowly over to the door, peeking out into the hall. It was completely empty. She quietly walked down the hall, peering into each room as she passed it. Miley wasn't there. She needed Miley.

"She's in the kitchen downstairs."

The blonde turned to see Aislinn standing behind her, a pair of sweatpants and a t-shirt held in her hands. "I was just coming to give these to you," she said, handing them to Lilly. "And…and I'm sorry for what happened. I should have seen this coming. He…Miley told me about what happened between the two of them and he…he holds grudges. He wouldn't hesitate to hurt her by hurting you. And trust me, he will regret what he did."

"I…I think I'm just numb right now," Lilly said honestly, quickly slipping the clothes on underneath the blanket. "And I…I don't even know how I should react right now. I mean, I know how I _should_ be reacting, but it's like…it's like my emotions aren't there anymore. There aren't any more tears for me to cry, and I can't yell and scream out of anger. I don't think I could even smile. No, I definitely couldn't smile."

Aislinn nodded understandingly. "I know exactly how you feel," she whispered, and Lilly got the sense that this is what had happened to her when she got pregnant. She opened her mouth to ask, but thought better of it and just nodded. "If you need anyone, just tell me," Aislinn whispered, and Lilly nodded again.

She turned back towards the stairs and slowly walked down, but no one was in the entrance hall. Pulling the blanket tighter around her shoulders, she made her way to the kitchen, standing in the shadows just outside the door when she heard the voices inside. She recognized one of the voices as Miley's and the other as Ruthie's.

"Are you feeling better now?" Ruthie asked.

"Yeah," Miley whispered in a shaky voice, and Lilly longed to rush into the kitchen and pull her into a hug, but she held herself back. "It's just…I love her so much and…and I can't stand to see her hurting. It just…it hurts me so much. I want to find those men who raped her and just pummel them until they can't move. And her father…oh, I would love to get my hands on her dad and show him how I feel. He would regret that he even thought about her like that."

Lilly's eyes widened and she leaned against the wall, sliding to the floor and closing her eyes as she listened to what Miley was saying. It had never occurred to her that everything that had been done to her would affect Miley in this way. She didn't know that her pain was causing Miley pain.

"And it hurts me even more to think that I could have prevented this from happening," Miley said, and Lilly could tell that she was crying now. "If I had just gone up to the room with her, Alex would have never even touched her. And now…now this place…it'll give her bad memories just like every other place where she was raped. I never wanted this to happen. I don't want to hurt her, and I know that she'll try to tell me that it doesn't bother her to be in that room, but I know it will, and I…"

Her voice broke off as she started to sob and Lilly felt tears start to run down her own cheeks. She knew what Miley was talking about. To hear her girlfriend hurting so much hurt her, and she wished she could do anything to stop her beautiful brunette from crying. Taking a deep breath, she stood up and knocked on the doorframe of the kitchen, stepping in shyly. Miley looked up and Ruthie smiled knowingly.

"Hey," Lilly whispered, coming up behind Miley and wrapping her arms around her, kissing her gently on the top of the head and resting her cheek there.

"How are you feeling?" Miley asked worriedly, standing up quickly and pulling Lilly toward her. "Do you want me to get you anything? Is there something I can do?"

Lilly could tell that Miley was struggling to hold back her sobs and she pulled away from her, looking up into her eyes. "I don't think you should be the one asking that question," she whispered. "You seem a little bit more upset."

"But Alex…" Miley whispered.

"I'm sure that it will all hit me later," Lilly whispered, wiping a tear from Miley's cheek with the tip of her finger. "But right now, you're the one who needs to be comforted, not me. I don't want you to hide your emotions because you're afraid that it'll hurt me. I want you to be honest with me, Miley. Isn't that what being in a relationship like ours is all about? This is an equal relationship, and I don't to be the one to always be comforted. You deserve to have someone care for you, too."

Miley's lip quivered and then she broke down, leaning into Lilly as she started to sob. The blonde wrapped her arms around Miley, pulling her closer, running her hands through her hair comfortingly.

"It's okay," she whispered in Miley's ear. "You don't have to be the strong one all the time, honey. Let it all out. It's okay. I love you." She held Miley as she cried, her heart aching for the hurting brunette.

Ruthie stood up, giving Lilly a small smile as she left. Lilly closed her eyes and rocked Miley back and forth, continuing to stroke her hair and rubbing her back as she whispered comforting words in her ear. Eventually Miley's sobs began to subside and she just leaned on Lilly, resting her head on her shoulder. Lilly pulled back and looked into Miley's eyes.

"You don't ever have to hide anything from me," she whispered, kissing her tears away. "I don't want this to be the kind of relationship where one person is always the comforter and the other always needs to be comforted. We both need to be comforted at times and I don't want you to think that you can't be honest with me about how you feel. I love you, Miley, and I want to know how you're feeling, no matter what."

"I…I just feel like I'll hurt you…" Miley started.

"No, you'll never hurt me by being honest with me," Lilly whispered, cupping Miley's cheek gently. "It hurts me more to hear that you think that I'll be hurt by you being honest. Promise me, Miley, that from now on, you won't try to hide stuff like this from me."

Miley nodded. "I'm sorry," she whispered, biting her lip.

"It's fine," Lilly whispered. "I just don't want you to feel like you've been neglected. I love you."

"I love you, too," Miley whispered, kissing Lilly softly. "And you promise me that you'll tell me if you start to feel bad, too, okay?"

"Of course," Lilly whispered.

They just stood there and held each other.

_**Well, there's the chapter. I'm honestly surprised I got it written and up so fast. Thank you to everyone for reviewing: JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, CaseyBug14, AshleyAlien1408, and Hayleyy. I really appreciate you guys reviewing for me. As to everyone else…REVIEW!!! Really, I mean it. The more reviews I get, the more motivated I'll be to update. Thank you all again for reading my story. I really appreciate all the reviews and favorites I get for this.**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_

6


	17. Chapter Sixteen: Proposition

_**So sorry that I didn't update for so long. The explanation is at the end of the chapter. Hopefully this will make up for everything. This chapter is dedicated to HannahMiley1fan.**_

The next morning, Lilly woke up to find Miley wrapped around her and carefully extracted herself from the brunette's grip. She smiled and gently kissed her forehead, slipping her feet in her slippers and grabbing a blanket from the end of the bed to wrap around Miley. The brunette smiled in her sleep and shifted slightly, but didn't wake up.

"I love you," Lilly whispered before leaving the room quietly, softly shutting the door behind her. She didn't want to wake Miley up because she had been so stressed out the day before and had gotten very little sleep that night because she kept having nightmares and waking up. It was the first time the whole night that she hadn't woken up every hour.

"Hey, how're you doing?" Aislinn asked as Lilly walked into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"Just worried about Miley," Lilly sighed, leaning her elbows on the table and putting her head in her hands. "She kept waking up last night crying and…I just hate seeing her like this. I never knew that loving someone could hurt this much; I just wish that she would feel better. It's frustrating, not being able to do anything to make her feel better."

"She's just stressed out," Aislinn said, setting a cup of coffee down in front of Lilly and sitting down across from her. "I think she's worried that this experience has ruined this whole place for you, sort of made it a place where all your bad memories will come back, and she doesn't want that to happen because this is her favorite place in the world. This is where she grew up and where her mom died and…she doesn't want to let go of this place. And she would do that for you. She would do anything for you."

Aislinn's tone sounded accusatory and Lilly looked up to see brown eyes staring into her. "What, are you saying that I wouldn't give up everything for Miley?" Lilly whispered. "In case you didn't know, my mom kicked me out of the house because I'm with her, and I didn't dump Miley and go running back home. I love her and I'm going to stay by her side no matter what."

"I just want to make sure that you won't hurt her, and you seem to be doing enough of that by just being with her," Aislinn said. "I don't even want to know how much it would hurt her if you left her. But if you do anything to upset her or hurt her or even make her cry and I find out about it, we're going to have problems. She's been hurt enough in her life…"

"By who?" Lilly shot at her. "Who's the one who went off, got pregnant, and then got an abortion, which split up her family? Not only split up her family, but right after her mom died? Hmm, who was that, Aislinn?"

"You have no idea what you're talking about," Aislinn growled.

"I think I do," Lilly said, leaning forward. "Look, I would never, ever hurt Miley intentionally. Do you really think that I wanted Alex to try to rape me last night? Miley is…she's my life, and if she isn't happy, then I'm not happy. And I know that I have a lot of depressing stuff going on in my life right now, but I would never, ever do anything that I would think in any way would hurt her. You, on the other hand, have done things to hurt her, and you've done them without even thinking about the effects that they might have on other people, so you really shouldn't be talking."

"What about telling her that you wouldn't be comfortable with her telling everyone that she was Hannah?" Aislinn asked. "She was incredibly hurt by that."

"And how much more hurt do you think she would be if the press started printing out articles saying that she was dating a lesbian slut?" Lilly asked angrily, standing up so fast that she knocked her chair back on the floor. She was no longer trying to keep her voice down. "I think I know a little better what the press would say if she came out about being Hannah Montana, and our relationship is no secret, so it would be the exact same thing as Hannah coming out of the closet, as well. Not everyone thinks about themselves as much as you do, Aislinn. You just want a perfect family, don't you? You can't stand having a weird family with a father who refuses to see you, a little brother who is disappointed in you, and a younger sister who is dating a pregnant girl, can you?"

"No, I can't, but is it so wrong for me to want my family to be happy?" Aislinn asked, also standing up.

"And who's to say that Miley isn't happy with me right now?" Lilly asked. "I love her more than life itself and I would die for her if I had to. I can honestly say that if someone held a gun to Miley and threatened to shoot her, I would throw myself in front of her. She. Is. My. Life. And that's not going to change."

There was a scream from upstairs and Lilly raced up the stairs and towards the bedroom where she had left Miley, barging in to find the brunette sitting up with tears streaming down her face. She immediately sat down on the bed and wrapped the brunette into a hug, pulling her closer.

"Hey, hey, it's okay," she whispered, rocking her back and forth. "Everything is okay, it was just a dream."

"He…he hurt you," Miley sobbed into Lilly's shoulder. "I tried…I tried to stop him, but he wouldn't stop. He said that he was going to hurt me by hurting you, and then he was going to kill you."

"No, no, it's okay," Lilly whispered. "It was just a dream, I'm okay. I'm right here, Miley, no one is hurt and no one is going to get hurt. I promise. Here, dry your tears and try to calm down a little bit. Trust me, you'll feel better. Do you want me to go get you a glass of water?"

Miley took in a deep, shuttering breath, calming herself down as she slowly pulled away from Lilly. "No, I'm fine," she whispered. "It's just…I can't imagine that something like that could have happened here. I love this place, and to think…it's probably ruined the whole experience for you…"

"Look at me Miley," Lilly said sternly, lifting her chin so they were looking straight into each other's eyes. "I love it here. And do you know why I love it here? Because you do. I don't think I've ever seen you this happy before, well, obviously not now, but yesterday, I could see that you love this place just by looking at you. And what happened yesterday with Alex didn't ruin anything for me. Nothing happened because you came and you saved me. And I love you even more for that. I don't think anything could ever ruin this place for me and even if it did, I would want to come here with you because it makes you happy. And what makes you happy makes me happy."

"How can you not be affected by what happened last night?" Miley whispered.

Lilly shrugged. "It'll hit me eventually, I suppose," she said quietly, looking away from Miley and toward the window. "I just…it feels like…like it wasn't me in the bedroom with Alex, but someone else. Sometimes I feel like I'm not me anymore because my life has been so…different. I don't see my mom anymore, I have to have regular doctor's appointments to check on the baby, and I'm living with the best girlfriend in the world. It's not normal for me to be doing all this stuff."

"Of course you're still you," Miley whispered.

"I know, it's just…I'm the most messed up person you could have chosen to be your girlfriend," Lilly said, smiling wryly. "You're Hannah Montana and you could have gotten anyone in the world, and you chose me, who probably has the most problems in the world…"

"No, no, you're the most amazing girl in the world," Miley said softly.

"Isn't it weird how we can go from me comforting you in one moment and then switch it all around in the next?" Lilly asked, laughing.

Miley looked at her with a confused expression on her face, not understanding where this sudden change of topic was coming from. Then her mouth stretched out into a smile and she started laughing with Lilly, her laughs ringing out of the room. Lilly stopped laughing and grinned at Miley, watching her lovingly as she laughed. This was the Miley that she loved, the Miley who smiled and laughed and joked , and she would do anything to keep the beautiful brunette like this for the rest of her life.

_For the rest of her life_. The smile faded from Lilly's face when she realized what this meant. She wanted to spend the rest of her life with Miley, which meant…meant that she wanted to marry her. That if, right now, Miley got down on one knee and proposed to her, she wouldn't hesitate to accept her proposal.

"Lilly, is something wrong?" Miley asked worriedly, her laughter fading.

"No, I…I just realized something," Lilly whispered, tears in her eyes. "I…I want to spend the rest of my life with you." She started to cry and Miley leaned forward, pulling her into a hug.

"Here, can I show you something?" Miley whispered.

"Yeah," Lilly said quietly, wiping her tears away with the sleeve of her shirt as Miley bounded off the bed towards their closet. She quickly changed into a pair of jeans and a button-down plaid shirt, throwing Lilly a pair of jeans and another button-down plaid shirt that she dug out of the bottom of the closet.

"Now you look like a real Southern girl," Miley laughed, emphasizing her accent purposely. She pulled on a pair of boots and helped Lilly put on a pair as well.

"I'll braid your hair really quick," Miley said, sliding on to the bed behind Lilly and quickly running a brush through her hair before braiding it neatly. She hopped off the bed and gently pulled Lilly into a gentle but lingering kiss, smiling down at her and brushing a piece of hair out of her face that she missed. "Come on," she whispered, and Lilly followed her down the stairs into the kitchen.

"Grandma, where are the hats?" Miley asked when she saw her grandma at the kitchen sink.

"There're hats in the barn," Ruthie said distractedly.

"No, Grandma, _the_ hats," Miley said, making Ruthie turn around to face her with wide eyes. "You know what I'm talking about, right?"

"Oh, yes, um, are you sure you want those particular hats?" Ruthie asked.

"I'm positive," Miley said, nodding.

"It's only been a month…" Ruthie said quietly.

"But we've known each other for years," Miley said confidently. "I know her better than she knows herself, and she knows me better than I know myself."

Ruthie looked at them, tilting her head slightly. "I see it," she whispered, then she bustled into the next room.

"What are you two talking about?" Lilly asked.

"I'll tell you when we get to where I'm taking you," Miley whispered, kissing her ear lightly. "I promise that you'll like it."

"Okay, fine, keep your secrets," Lilly said, smiling at Miley to let her know that she was joking.

"Here they are," Ruthie said in an excited tone of voice, coming back into the kitchen with two ordinary-looking cowboy hats in her hands. One was as black as midnight and the other was a pure white. She handed them to Miley almost reverently, who proceeded to put the black hat on her own head and the white hat on Lilly's head.

"We're ready," she said, then she hugged her grandma and took Lilly's hand, leading her out to the barn. She proceeded to saddle a chestnut horse and helped Lilly onto it's back before swinging up in front of her. "Are you ready?" she asked in a shaky voice.

"I'm ready when you are," Lilly whispered.

And then they were off, galloping out of the barn and into the plains of Tennessee. Time seemed to stand still as Lilly grasped Miley tightly around her stomach, enjoying the wind rushing past her face, the feel of her girlfriend's back against her front, both of their laughter combined, the grass swaying in the morning breeze.

The horse started to slow as they approached an imposing line of trees that signaled the start to the woods. Gradually, it started to get steeper and steeper and Miley let the horse go slower and slower until it was walking. Finally, Miley stopped the horse and dismounted, helping Lilly down. She tied the horse's reins to sturdy tree branch and smiled reassuringly at Lilly as she took her hand, gently leading her farther up.

"Here we are," Miley said as they emerged from the woods. They were at the top of a mountain, looking down at a valley. Lilly's eyes widened as she looked down at the scenic view before them, realizing that she could barely see the house in the distance.

"It's beautiful," she whispered.

"Lilly, I…" Miley hesitated.

"What?" Lilly asked quietly, turning to face Miley with curious eyes.

"Lilly, we've been best friends for three and a half years, and girlfriends for the past month," Miley said quietly, looking calmly into Lilly's eyes. "And the time that I've spent with you has been absolutely amazing. I couldn't wish for a better best friend or girlfriend. You helped me when I just moved here, you stuck with me even when I was being an idiot, and you've always been there for me."

She took a deep breath. "We've been through a lot in the past two months," she said, taking Lilly's hands in her own, gulping nervously. "And I've been trying to do my best to show you that I'm going to be there for you no matter what happens. Before you came into my life, I was lost, searching for someone to complete me, and when I found you, I was blind, because I couldn't see that you were the perfect person for me. Like the puzzle piece that I've been looking for to finish myself. And now that I've realized that you're the one, I'll never be able to live without you."

Lilly's eyes widened when she realized where this was going. "Miley…" she started quietly.

"No, just let me finish," Miley said, letting go of one of Lilly's hands and stroking her cheek softly with the tips of her fingers. "I…when you weren't here with me, it was like I was in the dark, and when you came into my life, it was like the sun rose, illuminating everything, showing me the path. You're my sun, Lilly. And I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

She let go of Lilly's other hand and pulled her hand away from her cheek, starting to get down on one knee. "I promise that I'll love you and cherish you and take care of you for the rest of your life," she said, pulling a small black box out of her pocket and opening it to reveal a slim, elegant silver band. "Lilly, will you marry me?"

_**Okay, I'm really sorry for not updating for so long. I moved and I didn't have internet access until today. I promise that if I did have internet access, I would have updated as soon as I had this written. The next chapter is on its way, maybe tomorrow or Monday. I'll see what I get for reviews. And please, please, PLEASE tell me what you think by reviewing. What do you think Lilly should say?**_

_**And thank you to my reviewers: AshleyAlien1408, Lovergirl242, and CaseyBug14. Special thanks goes to HannahMiley1fan.**_

_**Please REVIEW!!! Thanks**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	18. Chapter Seventeen: Seeing Reason

_**Here it is.**_

Lilly stared with wide eyes down at the silver band Miley was offering to her. But this was much more than just a silver band. It was a commitment. A commitment that she wasn't sure she and Miley were ready to make yet. And it was all up to her to be the responsible, to step back, separate herself from her emotions and look at the situation like a person from the outside. She hated that she had to do that.

"Miley," she whispered with tears in her eyes. She took hold of Miley's free hand and pulled her to her feet. "Please, please, please don't do this to me. Don't force me to make this decision so soon."

"We've known each other for so long…" Miley whispered.

"But are we ready to make a commitment like this?" Lilly asked. "Think about it, Miley. We're sophomores in high school, sixteen-year-olds. Most couples our age aren't even considering marriage at this point. Don't get me wrong, I love you more than I love anyone else in the world, but…I don't want to push this too far."

"Getting engaged would be pushing our relationship too far?" Miley asked, a hurt expression flashing over her face. She stood up quickly, snapping the box closed, and stuffed it in her pocket. "Well, then, I realize that we're at completely different levels, here. If I had known…well, there I go making a complete fool out of myself."

"No, Miley…" Lilly started.

"Come on, we should be getting back," Miley said, motioning for Lilly to follow her. The blonde sighed as Miley walked away from her, tears pricking her eyes when she realized that she missed the warmth of Miley's hand in her own.

"Here, you know the way back to the house, right?" Miley said, helping Lilly up onto the back of her horse, retracting her hands as soon as the blonde was in the saddle. Lilly nodded uncertainly. "Well, if you forget, just let the reins go and the horse will head straight back to the barn. When you get there, tell my grandma that I'm taking a walk and I'll be back late tonight."

"Miley…"

The brunette clicked her tongue against the roof of her mouth and Lilly jolted in surprise when the chestnut started forward at a brisk pace. She turned in the saddle to see Miley watching her sadly, taking the cowboy hat off her head and turning it in her hands. Just as Miley was about to disappear from sight, she saw the brunette turn her back. That was when Lilly started to cry.

"What's going on?" Luanne asked when Lilly galloped up to the barn, tears streaming down her face.

"She…Miley…" Lilly sobbed as Luanne helped her down from the horse. She leaned into the brunette, who wrapped her arms around her and stroked her hair softly.

"Shhh, it's going to be okay," Luanne whispered. "Come on, let's get you inside and we can send Aislinn out to look for Miley."

Luanne led Lilly into the house and sat her down at the kitchen table, rubbing her back comfortingly as the blonde continued to sob. A few minutes later, Ruthie walked into the kitchen.

"What's going on?" she asked. "Lilly, what happened?"

"She…she proposed to me," Lilly sobbed.

"Oh my God," Luanne whispered.

"Luanne, how about you go get Aislinn and the two of you go look for Miley," Ruthie said gently. Lilly heard the scrape of chair legs against the floor and receding footsteps. She looked up to see Ruthie sit down next to her and felt her put an arm around her shoulders.

"You said no, didn't you?" Ruthie asked softly. Lilly nodded. "Don't worry, she'll get over it. All the Stewarts get over it."

"W-what?" Lilly stuttered, her eyes wide as she looked at Ruthie.

Ruthie nodded wisely. "Yes, every single Stewart who has ever proposed has gotten turned down at least once," she said with a knowing smile. "Miley's father, included. He always leaves that part out, though. I think he just makes up a story. But it's always the girl or, in this case, you, Lilly, who has to think about the consequences of any rash or quick decisions and make the right choice. I'm proud of you, Lilly. When Miley asked me for the hats, I wasn't sure whether I should give them to her."

"What do the hats have to do with anything?" Lilly asked.

"Those hats are generations old," Ruthie said, taking the white hat from Lilly's head. "Miley's great-great grandfather proposed to her great-great grandmother while they were wearing these hats. And it's been a tradition to wear them ever since. I'm thinking, though, that it might be time to break that tradition."

"Why?"

"Because these hats not only represent the love shared between many people, but the heartbreak and the loss that has occurred between them, as well," Ruthie said sadly. "Susan, Miley's mother, died while wearing this hat. And I think…I think I want to give these hats to the two of you. To show that while there is heartbreak in a relationship, love conquers all."

"But…"

"Don't 'but' me, young lady. I know exactly what I'm doing," Ruthie said. "Now how about you dry those tears and hop on up to bed? You look like you could use a nap. I'll send Miley up when she gets back."

Lilly nodded and stood up. "Can I…can I take the hat with me?" she asked.

"Of course," Ruthie said with a small smile, handing the hat over to her.

Taking the hat from Ruthie, Lilly turned and climbed up the stairs, going into her and Miley's bedroom. Slipping her boots off, she crawled under the covers and let the tears run down her face. It was okay to cry here, to the lets the sobs escape her mouth, shake her body, take her over. Because no one could hear. No one could ask her what was wrong or tell her that everything was going to be okay. For a moment, for a single moment, maybe an hour or two, Lilly needed to have someone not lie to her. To tell her that everything had gone horribly wrong and it wasn't going to get any better. But Lilly did that for herself. The darkness enveloped her as her tears subsided.

* * *

Three hours later, Lilly woke up to a quick, sharp pain in her lower abdomen. Her hand immediately flew to her stomach and her eyes widened when she realized that something was wrong. Drastically wrong.

Another stab of pain hit her and she cried out, swinging her legs out of the bed as she stumbled towards the door, towards people. People who could help her. Who could tell her what was happening. They could get rid of this pain. Another cry of pain flew past her lips as the pain hit her again, harder and longer, and she knew that it was getting worse. Something was wrong. With the baby.

"Help," she whimpered as she struggled to get the door open, stumbled into the hallway and hit the wall with a force that would have knocked over a football player. She slid to the ground, tears streaming down her face as wave after wave of pain hit her. Whispered words left her mouth as she prayed for God to just take her there, to spare her the torture, to just kill her.

"Lilly, what's wrong?"

The voice of an angel. She managed to see the blurry picture of someone's face hovering in front of her. A pale face and brown hair. Green eyes. The face of an angel? A gentle hand touched her on the shoulder, shaking her slightly. A worried voice reached her ears, but she couldn't make out what was being said. The pain had overtaken her. She could no longer control what she did. Her body shook and trembled as the pain took over, controlled her.

"Lilly…Lilly…Lilly…"

And the darkness overtook her.

_**Okay, I know it's a HORRIBLE Christmas present, but this is the second-to-last chapter. I'm not saying the chapter was horrible, which hopefully it wasn't, but the fact that the next chapter I put up is going to be the last of this story. And I'm putting it up as soon as I get it formatted and as soon as I get this put up. I'm sorry. But maybe there will be a little New Year's surprise at the end???? Hmmm, it all depends on reviews… (hint, hint, hint)**_

_**Speaking of reviews, thank you to JustAnotherSlowGoodbye, AshleyAlien1408, Lovergirl242, CaseyBug14, and Azula's Flame 1415 for reviewing. I really appreciate your guys' feedback. I love you all and right now I'm going to put up the next chapter since I've been so lazy and haven't been updating.**_

_**PLEASE REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!!**_

_**Thanks!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_


	19. Chapter Eighteen: Need

_**Last chapter. Enjoy!!!**_

Lilly's senses came back to her slowly, gradually. The first sense to come back was her sense of smell. It was too clean, too…_sterile_ for her to be at Miley's grandma's house. No, all she could smell was freshly washed sheets and something chemical. Something that didn't belong in the natural world.

The sense of taste was the next sense that came back to her. Her tongue was dry and it tasted like…like chemicals. Gross and disgusting. Like when you went to the orthodontist and glued your braces on your teeth and accidentally got the glue on your tongue and you can't get the taste off for the next three hours.

Then she could suddenly hear. Beeping machines, worried voices, crying.

Her eyes fluttered open and she was staring, surprisingly, straight forward. She was propped up on pillows and there were several people in her hospital room, most of which she didn't recognize. One she did recognize.

"Miley?" she rasped.

The brunette turned to her, her eyes wide, red, and puffy, like she had been crying. Then everything came back to her. The pain. Stumbling into the hallway and sliding down the wall and to the floor. Miley kneeling in front of her and asking what was wrong. Ruthie saying that the baby was coming too early. The sound of sirens. Paramedics telling her that they were going to take care of her. The delivery. God, the delivery.

"Miley," she whimpered.

"Oh, Lilly," Miley whispered, rushing to her bedside and wrapping her arms around her shoulders, pulling her closer. And, for once, she wasn't telling her that it was going to be okay. For once, she was crying with Lilly. The two girls' pain was one and the same, combined to take them to a whole different, higher, level.

"What happened?" Lilly whispered through her tears.

"The…the baby came prematurely," Miley said quietly, pulling away from Lilly so they could see each other. "It was a miscarriage. The doctors said that there was no way that this could have been prevented and that there were no obvious causes for the baby's death. They said it was a…a…spontaneous miscarriage. There was nothing you could have done, Lilly. It isn't your fault."

Tears were streaming down Miley's face and Lilly reached out with her hand, wiping them away with her fingers. The brunette watched her with wide eyes. Lilly stroked Miley's cheek softly. "We haven't come up with a name," she whispered.

"A name," Miley said, dumbfounded.

"A name," Lilly repeated.

They were both quiet. The whole room was quiet. The whole world was quiet. It was like the world was holding its breath as the two girls thought of the perfect name for the infant who would never take her first breath, the toddler who would never take her first step, the child who would never speak her first word, the little girl who would never ride her first bicycle, the daughter who would never cling to her mom as she headed to her first day of the school.

"Destiny," Lilly whispered.

"Destiny Hope," Miley whispered back.

"Destiny Hope Stewart," Lilly said, looking at the doctors with tear-filled eyes. "She'll have the last name of Miley. Her name will be Destiny Hope Stewart."

Lilly looked into Miley's eyes and for the first time in a long time, she knew that she was safe and she was cared for. Even though she was far away from the house she grew up in, far from the city she loved so much, far from the woman who had raised her and scorned her, far from the places she knew so well, she felt safe.

Thinking back on everything that happened, her fight with Miley, running away to the city for a day, getting raped., finding out that she was pregnant, discovering that Miley loved her, attempting to commit suicide, starting to date Miley, telling Oliver that they were together, getting rejected by her mother for being gay, rejecting Miley's proposal, going through the miscarriage, she found that all these trials and tribulations she had endured actually strengthened her, made her stronger.

And, at that moment, Lilly didn't need a reason.

_**Wow. That's all I've got to say about this. Wow. It's been an incredible experience actually FINISHING one of my longer stories. I have so many unfinished stories that I can't even count them, and this is an incredible achievement for me. I am definitely proud of this. :)**_

_**Yes, I know that you all hate me for leaving the story here. The good thing is, I'm going to be writing a sequel. The bad thing is…it's not going to be for a while. What I'm going to do is take a break from this, maybe for a month or two, finish **_**Remembering Miley**_**, and post another story multi-chap story I've been working through on the side. I have about six chapters of that right now, which means that I could update weekly.**_

_**And I know I'm posting this right after I posted the last chapter, so I don't have any reviewers to thank yet. THAT DOESN'T MEAN YOU DON'T HAVE TO REVIEW!!! Please, please, please, please, please review. I know that it means a lot to me, and, whenever you get the chance, review any of the stories you read, because the authors really appreciate it.**_

_**Thank you all so much for being so loyal to this story and sticking with it even when I've sort of let it trail off at times. I promise that I will definitely be writing a sequel (someone write a reminder to me in two months), but in the meantime, I will be posting other stories. Be sure to check those out and, most importantly, REVIEW!!!! :)**_

_**Once again, thank you all, and happy holidays!!!**_

_**AThousandTimesMore**_

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